Analyzing William Barr’s Statement on Robert Mueller’s Report

Attorney General William Barr submitted a summary of his conclusions from Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged geopolitical interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The summary said there wasn’t enough evidence that showed the president’s campaign directly inspired or colluded with Russian individuals to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. It also did not definitely say whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

In the letter, Barr said the public would soon be allowed to read the report, subject to some redactions based on sensitive information that appears within.

Speaking to FOX40 News, Mark — who once worked as a federal public defender — said Mueller’s decision to defer criminal charges to the Attorney General and the Department of Justice was understandable.

“This is about indicting a president,” Mark said. “So he defers it to the attorney general with the faith that the attorney general…would do the right thing.”

Mueller’s report could contain enough facts that Congress could ultimately decide the evidence showed conduct that could be impeachable.

“There’s no dispute that Russia interfered with the election,” Mark said. “People associated with the president, Mr. Trump, had things to do with Russian interference, but not colluding…it’s a simple summary of a really big, big tome.”

Mark said that Attorney General Barr is a partisan advocate of the president.

“It’s very carefully worded,” Mark said of the summary. “He clearly says there’s a lot in it that Mueller wrote, and [Barr] made the determination not to press charges.”

Watch the full video from FOX40 News below:

 

Mark Appears as Expert During FOX40’s Special Coverage on Stephon Clark Decision40’s special coverage of Stephon Clark decision

Mark offered his insight and legal expertise during FOX40’s extensive coverage of the Stephon Clark shooting case.

On March 2, Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert decided against criminally charging several Sacramento Police Department officers in connection with the death of Stephon Clark last year.

Clark, 23, was shot as he fled from officers during an encounter in Sacramento’s Meadowview neighborhood on March 18, 2018. He was not armed at the time of the shooting.

“For a long time, there’s been calls for an independent branch of the government that will investigate and prosecute police misconduct shootings,” Mark said. “… There’s a lot of ways this could have been handled better.”

Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s First Amendment Threat to Journalists

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has issued an edict to a pair of investigative reporters who obtained police discipline data following a California Public Records Act request filed with the state’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

The documents included records related to around 12,000 current and former officers as well as individuals who applied to be officers. The list contained accusations of criminal conduct against some of those officers, including allegations of shoplifting, child molestation and murder.

Becerra’s officer later told the journalists the list was inadvertently disclosed to them and ordered the journalists to destroy and not disclose it. They refused, disclosing the list in a series of reporting from the U.C. Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program in collaboration with a handful of other newsrooms.

Becerra has since contemplated criminal charges against the reporters for their disclosure, something press freedom advocates say is a serious threat to their First Amendment protections and civic duty to inform the public.

Speaking to FOX40 News, Mark said freedom of the press is hard to challenge in court, even if journalists have records that normally wouldn’t be disclosable, as long as the reporters don’t obtain the records through illegal means.

“It’s very difficult for [police or prosecutors] to take [the records] from you, to punish you for having them or to prevent you from publishing them,” Mark said.

See the video below:

Wife of Accused Golden State Killer Joseph DeAngelo Files for Divorce

A new twist in the Golden State Killer saga has opened up new possibilities in the trial against Joseph DeAngelo, the man charged with several decades-old crimes.

Speaking with FOX40 News, Mark said DeAngelo, who has been behind bars for 10 months, faces a new legal hurdle as he awaits what could be California’s biggest criminal trial in state history.

 

Court records show DeAngelo’s wife filed for divorce in state superior court last year.

“There’s now a divorce pending, which means they’re no longer legally married, and that’s significant,” Mark said. “I think this is a treasure trove for the prosecution now. She can really be a domestic diary of the daily activities of this person.”

If the couple had remained married, defense attorneys for DeAngelo could have stopped prosecutors from forcing his wife to testify, citing spousal privilege. But now she can testify, though with certain limitations.

“She can’t talk about [specific] communications, but she can talk about observations — he wasn’t home this night, this night he came home with these clothes, this night he took the truck,” Mark said.

The trial could still be up to a year away.

Read the full story on FOX40’s website by clicking or tapping here.

Mark Represents Davis Woman Hayley Gilligan in Court Hearing

Was it murder or was it self-defense?

Mark represented Hayley Katherine Gilligan, 30, of Davis at a court hearing, telling local reporters afterward he is confident his client would prevail over homicide charges stemming from a self-defense shooting against her former boyfriend.

“We know this is an extreme tragedy for everyone,” Mark said. “There’s nothing good about this situation.”

Mark said his client was planning to go to Disneyland the day of the shooting. Hayley and her boyfriend were broken up at the time, Mark said.

“We trust the process, we have absolute faith in the system,” Mark said. “We think it’s going to work out for my client. We’re positive of that.”

Read the full story on KCRA-TV’s website by clicking or tapping here.

Sacramento Man Omar Ameen Accused of Fighting for ISIS

Omar Ameen, a Sacramento man, was arrested earlier this week for allegedly working with ISIS during his time in Iraq several years ago.

Since moving to the United States, Ameen has led a quiet life as a welding student at nearby American River College and worked at an area auto body shop. He was granted asylum in the united states in 2014.

But a few weeks after his asylum request was approved, authorities claim Ameen went back to Iraq where he allegedly murdered a police officer.

Mark spoke with FOX40 News about the case, saying the case represents a “failure of the system.”

 

“The (asylum) screening process is meant to prevent this,” Reichel said.

A spokesperson for a refugee resettlement agency said it’s the first time an alleged terrorist has been resettled in the Sacramento region.

“The commitment of those who come here under refugee status who work hard, who attend our schools, who contribute to our local economy, who are raising their families,” the spokesperson said.

Read the full story on FOX40’s website here.

Solano County Public Defender Accused of Raping Fellow Attorney

A Solano County grand jury handed down an indictment accusing former Deputy Public Defender Rahul Balaram of getting a colleague drunk, then raping her, following an office holiday party in Vallejo.

Now in private practice, Mark spoke with FOX40 News about his experience as a public defender, though he is not representing either client in the Solano County case.

 

“It’s already a really difficult job,” Mark said of the public defender role. “This is the worst possible thing that could happen to a public defender agency, something from within being so significant and being so inflammatory.”

Read the full story and see the complete interview on FOX40’s website here.