This site is about U.S.A. v. Joseph Dettelis, a federal criminal prosecution that took place in Buffalo, New York, and is now on Appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

This case involves the claim that Government prosecutors used an Illegal Pretrial Detention of 31 months, against a local citizen, to make it impossible to defend against their tax related criminal accusations. The defendant, Joseph Dettelis, a tax accountant with 18 years of tax accounting experience at the time the detention began on May 1, 2003, contends the prosecutors gained an unjust conviction against him for alleged criminal income tax advice and filing assistance given to clients of his accounting practice. And that the government attorneys did this by knowingly abusing detention statutes designed for high flight risk murder and other life imprisonment type cases and unlawfully claiming they could apply these statutes to Dettelis and this 0-5 year sentence exposure, nonviolent tax case. Even Bernard Madoff, facing life plus got bail.  The illogic and absurdity  of this case is clear on its face. How can any local citizen be detained without a conviction for 31 months when he is only being accused of non-violent crime that can result in absolutely NO jail sentence, even if he were convicted. Dettelis wants the conviction thrown out PROMPTLY by the Second Circuit Judges and those responsible for this abuse of power in Western New York held accountable.

Here is the government's ridiculous argument on appeal:
A newly assigned Government prosecutor has claimed that it does not matter if Mr. Dettelis was illegally detained pretrial for 31 months-- because he says, "once convicted a defendant can never have his conviction vacated on the basis that he was illegally detained pending trial." But, Lawrence Baczynski actually states this in his Responding Brief. In fact that is his entire argument against the illegal detention claim-- in short that such a contention cannot be brought on appeal. Sound a little strange? We think so too.

Dettelis says Baczynski's argument  is absurd and he should be disbarred for even making it because the case law he cites to support it clearly does not support it and a first year law student would know that. Yet Baczynski pretends this is well settled law and says that in his Brief. Dettelis characterizes Baczynski as a hatchet-man the justice department uses to make absurd legal arguments against pro se litigants in embarrassing appeals, to try to salvage them. "Last I checked Baczynski was not even a member of the Second Circuit Bar but they still let him file this pile of rubbish." "My Brief and Reply Brief shoot apart the government's [Baczynski's] absurd argument, but without the public record I could not even make this argument on appeal. That's what government attorneys try to accomplish when they pull these stunts. No public record- so they can pretend it never happened- but not in my case, I risked my life to get this public record down while illegally detained- so I could appeal this injustice." says Dettelis.

Mr. Dettelis fought hard to insure the Case Record proves he was illegally detained pretrial. The laying down of this public record is something the government fought at all costs to prevent by repeatedly punishing Mr. Dettelis, whenever he filed more information on the public docket showing he was being unlawfully held, and then putting extreme pressure on Mr. Dettelis and his family in attempts to get him to plead guilty to crimes he did not commit, while he was falsely imprisoned on those very accusations. This is also on the record and in the Briefs.

 Dettelis has now LEGALLY shown the Court of Appeals, based on the public record now on appeal, through his Formal Appeal Brief and his Reply Brief that he was illegally detained and therefore unable to hire the lawyer he wanted, unable to communicate with or pay for expert witnesses, unable to have his witnesses interviewed, unable to use any of his extensive business resources and data base OR BUSINESS EARNINGS to defend himself, because of the illegal detention. "Try to run your business or access your files while you are in jail for 2 1/2 years- you can't!"

Dettelis says many of these types of prosecutorial pretrial trickery have already been classified under "STRUCTURAL DEFECTS" by the United States Supreme Court and he wants the Second Circuit to extend the definition to ILLEGAL PRETRIAL DETENTIONS. "Structural Defects" is a type of Constitutional REVERSABLE Error that occurs in the "Frame Work" of the Trial Process, not in the Trial itself. The Frame Work of the trial process is such basic Constitutional Guarantees as accessing your own resources to hire the lawyer you want. Error that occurs in the Trial is different and is known as Trial Error. The difference is a "Structural Defect" renders the trial results useless, null and void because your Constitutionally protected Trial Guarantees, such as unjust interference to access your own resources to present the defense you want, are violated.

Dettelis says his Briefs plainly show based on the record that these obvious Structural Defects literally CRY OUT from the now 6 1/2 year record. And since he was unlawfully prevented from realizing his most sacred rights to merely defend himself by unjust government interference with his defense through illegal pretrial detention- the Second Circuit must throw the case out or be considered an irrelevant appeals court.

Dettelis also says that these are only a few of the unconstitutional obstructions caused by unlawful pretrial confinement, only the tip of the ice berg. "Think about it", says Dettelis, "I'm going to falsely accuse you of a crime then I'm going to put you in jail. You are going to be IN JAIL like any criminal with your communication cut off, your ability to earn a living cut off, no money coming in, all your plans destroyed, and all your relationships, business and personal, ruined. After a few months your house goes into foreclosure, your credit cards default, you are now in jeopardy of losing everything, just to name some of the havoc this creates. Then I'm going to say to you-- Go ahead defend yourself against the resources of your federal government."   "This is a very bad joke and a very big atrocity and it happened right here in our own backyard, to a local Citizen, but government employees we pay are still pretending they have a valid conviction, which they don't."

"This conviction is utterly invalid and it has ruined and continues to ruin my life, and harm my family" says Dettelis. "Tens of Thousands of dollars were wasted on illegally imprisoning me before trial for 31 months without any conviction. I am demanding compensation and that this unlawful conviction be buried in the deepest pit of hell where it belongs! My most sacred rights as a citizen were simply trampled upon so some government prosecutor could pretend to prove her case. The make believe trial that took place has to go down as one of the biggest mockeries of justice this side of the Atlantic. This was done by people we entrust and pay to soberly and professionally prosecute crime. She actually had the gall to argue that my motions proving I had to be released and demanding release so I could defend myself against their false accusations caused the long ILLEGAL pretrial confinement!" Dettelis says he will not let this slide like the Judge wants. "They actually said I caused it by bringing motions for my release. The  Judge actually  made a speech in court, after I was falsely convicted, that we should forget about this and just move on." I could forget," says Dettelis, "just throw the conviction out and compensate my family for all the pain, suffering and torture that took place, and hold those accountable who perpetrated this crime against an American Citizen. I'll be glad to forget once the balance is restored."     

The government attorneys involved and the U.S. Magistrate who ordered the unlawful pretrial detention are simply hoping no one pays attention to this so they can get away with it. They are hoping the Court of Appeals will just see it as too much of a bother to actually read the Briefs and so just rubber stamp their injustice.

You can judge for yourself if the proceedings were fair, and if this type of thing can be tolerated.

Finally after two years of illegal detention Joe was called to argue before the Chief Judge, against the prosecutor who had repeatedly argued to keep him in jail all that time. Joe's efforts won the day, resulting in release being ordered by the Chief Judge, who granted all Joe's motions. But in a bazaar twist of fate, the very prosecutor who was responsible for the previous 2 years of pretrial detention argued that Joe's house did not have enough equity to be used to post the bail the Judge ordered. This argument was diametrically at odds with the licensed real estate appraisals and certified Title documents Joe's family and real estate lawyer provided, as well as the easily verifiable facts on the record. But yet this prosecutor unproven quips before the court were  believed over certified appraisals.

Deprived of actually realizing his long awaited pretrial release, Joe was then forced to defend himself at trial against the accusations from jail.

"This kind of case was not possible to defend from jail, and I had to fire the lower cost private attorneys I was able to hire from jail and take the case myself because they were not preparing for trial-- they actually conspired with the prosecutor to try to force me to "cop a plea" while misrepresenting to my family that they were trying to get me out. That is the system we have. My own attorneys left me falsely imprisoned and refused to have the illegal detention ordered by U.S. Magistrate Hugh B. Scott, reviewed by United States District Court Judge, Richard J. Arcara, which is my due process. Anything but a trial.  As soon as I brought the matter pro se to the District Court Judge, he set bail, but that process took two years. That's right it took two years to get a pretrial detention order reviewed by the district court judge  because the prosecutors, the Magistrate and my own attorneys obstructed that process. This is all covered in my Briefs and plainly demonstrated by the long public record. "

"The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit must review this public record for error based on the filed briefs and reverse the illegal conviction with prejudice."

This beautiful black granite  monument created by Dr. Lorenzo Pace' is the Center of Foley Square.

Looking North from the steps of the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse, one beholds this National Treasure. The Courthouse itself is a National Treasure, being National Register # 87001596. A literal Temple of Law with a Tower rising from it and a Gilded Pyramid on Top catching the Sun's Ray's, gathered with its brothers and sisters around The Triumph of the Human Spirit.

What do we want our Courthouses to stand for in the 21st Century, Prisoner Processing Centers or Temples of Law and Order? Real Truth and Justice based on actual Fact, Reason and Law builds and preserves a society. Fact determined by a fair and constitutionally protected trial process applied with Reason and enlightened Law we can All Rely on is essential to our well being as a Nation.