Should Judge John Gleeson take the advice of the New York Probation Department on board, Robert Simels, the former of lawyer of drug convict Roger Khan, could draw 30 years to life when his sentence is handed down in a Brooklyn Federal Court tomorrow.
A probation report recommended that Simels be sentenced to 30 years to life in prison while his former assistant, Arianne Irving should serve between 10 years and 15 years.
A 12-member jury in a Brooklyn courtroom had returned a guilty verdict for Simels and Irving in August this year. The high-profile lawyer and his assistant were caught on tape plotting to silence witnesses against Khan. The verdict had followed two weeks of explosive testimony from witnesses including a professed member of Khan’s “Phantom Squad”, Selwyn Vaughn.
He tied the government to Khan’s activities, which included ordering the murder of activist Ronald Waddell and others. Testimony implicated Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who was identified as the government official who met with Khan and facilitated the purchase of the spy equipment he used to carry out surveillance here. Ramsammy and the government have denied the allegations and the minister has dared his accusers to prove otherwise.
Yesterday, US prosecutor Benton Campbell, responding to a sentencing memorandum submitted by both Simels and Irving, asked that the judge follow the advice of the probation department as it relates to Simels. While he said Irving could receive a lighter sentence than what was recommended, he strongly objected to her receiving a non-custodial sentence as she requested through her lawyers.
One of the charges Simels was found guilty of was plotting to “neturalise” former army Major David Clarke, who was expected to be one of the main witnesses at Khan’s trial, as the two had trafficked in narcotics together.
Clarke, who once headed one of the army’s camps that was set up in Buxton to quell the criminal upsurge in that village, is also expected to be sentenced for drug trafficking in the same court building tomorrow.
Campbell, in his submissions yesterday, noted the lengths to which Simels went to contact Vaughn as it took three individuals in Guyana, including a well-known lawyer, to arrange contact between the two.
“Simply put, the effort to obstruct Khan’s criminal trial involved numerous participants both in the US and in Guyana,” the prosecutor said.
Simels through his lawyer had argued among other things to be sentenced to between 33 to 41 months in prison, stating there was no need to protect the public from him as he is a loving family member and friend and that his former client Khan received only 15 years.
However, Campbell argued that the offences Simels was convicted of are most serious, and were committed out of pure greed and a desire to win at all costs.
‘Outrageous’
“The scheme was for the lack of a better word, outrageous,” Campbell said adding that the lawyer brazenly instructed Vaughn to lie when he would have testified at Khan’s trial and that “conduct alone undermines the very underpinnings of our criminal justice system.
“For an attorney to engage in such conduct, especially one with Simels’ level of experience is inexplicable and inexcusable.”
Further, Campbell said Simels undeniably perjured himself on the witness stand during his trial by falsely denying his involvement and deflecting blame towards others and this he said should be a significant factor in determining sentence.
The prosecutor said it is significant that Simels continues to reject responsibility for his offence in his sentencing memorandum, which Campbell said, was replete with outright denials.
For example, in his letter to the court, Simels maintained he was the victim of his own “recklessly and carelessly” chosen words that he “certainly never intended for any witness to be threatened”.
“The evidence instead shows Simels’ words were intentional and wholly calculated to achieve his criminal corrupt purpose,” Campbell said. The prosecutor noted that Simels lamented that he failed to follow his own advice to “never say anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the New York Times.
“Simply put he is not sorry for his crimes… he is sorry he got caught,” Campbell argued.
The prosecutor then referred to the judge’s words when Simels was found guilty where he said among other things: “The evidence about suborning perjury showed me that he [Simels] spent many years living on the wrong side of the line. It just seemed too reflexive for me for a lawyer to so comfortably and as though he were asking Vaughn to pass a box of tissues, to tell Vaughn that he is going to lie when he takes the stand at trial.”
Referring to Simels’ contention that Khan got 15 years so he should get a lesser sentence, Campbell noted that there are marked differences, which make his conduct more egregious and worthy of a lengthier sentence including the fact that he is a licensed lawyer who violated the public trust and his oath. He also knew better as he had 35 years of experience as a lawyer in the criminal justice system, Campbell said.
The prosecutor pointed out that Khan was a drug dealer in Guyana and that he would be deported to Guyana when he was finished serving his sentence and may face criminal charges in this country.
‘Devoid of remorse’
Turning to Irving, the prosecutor said while she should receive a lighter sentence, her argument that she was a victim of circumstances because she is less culpable than Simels does not cut it. He said incarceration is necessary and the fact that she is “utterly devoid of remorse for her actions and has failed to demonstrate even the slightest contrition, should weigh heavily in favour of a significant sentence.”
He said the government has also learnt since the trial, that before working with Simels, Irving had a history of deceitful and manipulative conduct since as an attorney she was fired by her previous employer for using her employer’s signature stamp without authorization and then lying about it.
During the trial, Vaughn, who revealed that he became a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informant after Khan was arrested and taken to the US in 2006, said that Khan had ordered the executions of political activist Waddell and Agricola boxing coach Donald Allison. He told the court that he had been the lookout man in both cases.
Photographs of Waddell, Allison, well-known ‘Phantom Squad’ members and one of Clarke were placed on a board during the trial.
Simels, in his sentencing memorandum, argued that the board of photographs unfairly portrayed him to the jury as head of the Phantom Squad.
But the prosecutor found the argument baseless and insultive to the jury, who he said had much more sense than to think Simels headed the “murdering squad” in Guyana.
When he was asked specifically whether he ever met Ramsammy, Vaughn had said that he met the minister both at Roger Khan’s carpet cleaning company in Bel Air and that he had gone to the minister’s office on behalf of Khan who had introduced them.
Vaughn’s testimony also mentioned the involvement of Khan in trying to quell and capture the five February 23 prison escapees. He also named several Guyanese individuals who are involved in the narcotics trade between Guyana and North America and Europe.
