CE agent found not guilty in political data base case

By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News, April 9, 2008

Immigration agent Cory Voorhis was found not guilty of violating the law by accessing a confidential government database for political purposes — providing information on illegal immigrants used in a campaign attack ad against now-Gov. Bill Ritter. The federal courtroom was full, with some 50 supporters of Voorhis and members of the public.

The jury apparently rejected the prosecution's argument that they would have to find Voorhis guilty simply if he exceeded his authority in going on the National Crime Information Center computer to obtain information on illegal aliens who won plea bargains while Ritter was district attorney.

Voorhis admitted getting the information and providing it to the Bob Beauprez gubernatorial campaign. But his defense said Voorhis did nothing illegal because he had a good and legal purpose: Forcing change in a bad criminal justice policy.

The U.S. District Court jury took less than three hours to find Voorhis not guilty of the two misdemeanors he was charged with. Voorhis, an accomplished immigration agent, could have faced a possible penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each of two counts.

Voorhis told the Beauprez campaign that an accused heroin dealer who pleaded guilty to trespassing on farmland in Denver was the same man later arrested under a different name on a charge of sexual assault on a child in San Francisco.

The sexual assault charge was dropped, but the ad did not say that.

Without the information available through the NCIC database that the two were the same man, the Beauprez campaign had no attack ad, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Phillips in closing arguments Tuesday. The same information was not available through public court records, he said.

"Was the purpose of that ad related to criminal justice?" asked Assistant U.S. Attorney James Anderson. "No, it was one candidate throwing mud at another."

But defense attorney Patrick Ridley insisted that "the reason we are here is the absurdity of the policy" of giving plea bargains to criminal aliens. He also said Voorhis' job description includes investigations that "lead to change in laws," and that justified his actions.

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