Can state prosecutors indict Bush?-Consider the federal wire fraud statute...

[kpete]

A State Prosecutor for Bush?

Jonathan Zasloff speculates about the idea that an ambitious state attorney general might be able to find a way to indict Bush administration officials for crimes related to torture and so forth.
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/01/a_state_prosecutor_for_bush.php

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January 13, 2009
Can state prosecutors indict Bush?
Posted by Jonathan Zasloff

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The answer generally is no -- but that is not for constitutional reasons. Rather, it arises because the criminal statutes in question vest absolute jurisdiction in federal prosecutors.

But not all federal criminal statutes. Consider the federal wire fraud statute, referred to as a "prosecutor's true love" because of its breadth:

Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.

Nope: no jurisdictional limitation there. And for good reason: it's the oldest federal crime still on the books, and for much of the nation's history, it was routine for state prosecutors to indict for federal crimes.

I dunno: schemes to violate the law by torturing people, then lying and dissembling about it through electronic media? Maybe. The mail and wire fraud statutes are the most commonly used statutes to indict officials for public corruption.

more at:
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2009/01/can_state_prosecutors_indict_bush.php

[Vincardog]

1. State AGs can prosecute crimes committed in their states.