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ICE agent cleared in leak case

Voorhis' access of crime database legal, jury says

By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News, April 10, 2008

Immigration agent Cory Voorhis "was basically doing his job" when he provided confidential information on illegal-immigrant plea bargains for a campaign ad against now-Gov. Bill Ritter, said the foreman of the jury that found Voorhis not guilty Wednesday.

Eighteen months after Bob Beauprez's campaign for governor collapsed over charges that Voorhis illegally provided secret government information for the ad, the jury said there was nothing criminal about it.

Voorhis had told the Beauprez campaign that an accused heroin dealer, who was allowed to plead 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 sex charge was dropped, but the ad did not say that.

Wednesday, a crowd of 50 supporters erupted in applause and cheers as soon as the judge let them. "Thank God!" one said.

'Restoration of reputation'

Voorhis hugged his wife, Paula, and then one friend after another who had sat through the eight- day trial. Then, the veteran immigration agent collapsed in a courtroom chair, head in hands, alone in the crowd.

His lawyer later spoke for him.

"For Cory Voorhis, this was about telling the truth and about public safety," said Bill Taylor of the legal firm Holland and Hart. "He sees this verdict as restoration of his reputation."

The defense had told the jury that Voorhis' job description as a special agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement included investigations that "led to change in laws."

Jury foreman Craig Disney said the jury decided that is what Voorhis was doing when he told the Beauprez campaign that illegal immigrants were getting plea bargains from Ritter's office when he was Denver district attorney.

Voorhis told the campaign that the immigration agency would not deport the illegals unless the convictions were more serious, the defense said.

As an immigration agent, "he is to change policy and procedures and change court decisions," Disney said. "It was clear as day it was in his job description."

In addition, Voorhis "was supposed to cultivate relationships with politicians and the media," the foreman noted.

The jury also found that Voorhis had nothing to gain personally from his actions, Disney said.

'Travesty of justice'

Beauprez - who was not called to testify and, from testimony, had no direct role in the Voorhis leak - said he was "ecstatic" to hear the verdict.

He called the case "a travesty of justice" and "a witch hunt."

"I thought Cory was a hero 18 months ago, and I'm just delighted a jury agreed with that. I always thought a legitimate injustice had been brought to light," Beauprez said.

The former congressman also told a radio station that he intends to write a large check for Voorhis' legal fees.

Beauprez was trailing Ritter by double digits in the polls in October 2006 when his campaign ran the ad on the heroin dealer. His staff thought it would turn the campaign around.

Instead, Ritter said the Beauprez campaign could not have discovered that the Walter Ramo in Colorado was the same man as the Carlos Estrada Medina in California without illegally accessing a national crime database. Only the FBI had matched fingerprints in the two cases.

Soon, complaints about Ritter's plea bargaining were lost in the allegations that the Beauprez campaign had violated the law and used secret government information for political purposes.

Prosecutors never said it was illegal for Voorhis to tip the Beauprez campaign that Ritter's office had handled a series of plea bargains to trespassing on farmland. Instead, they charged Voorhis with misdemeanors for using his special agent status to access the National Crime Information Center to figure out whether several of those given plea bargains were illegal immigrants.

His agency, ICE, refuses to reveal to the public whether a particular person is in the country illegally. So when the Beauprez campaign tried to confirm Voorhis' tip about Estrada Medina through public records, it failed. Only the NCIC tied the two cases.

"He never should have been prosecuted," said friend Mike Riebau, who led a drive that collected $40,000 toward Voorhis' legal bills, which he said total about $250,000. "It should have been an administrative investigation (at his job) at best."

"This was a case where the criminal justice system was hijacked and used for political retaliation," Riebau said.

The U.S. District Court jury took less than three hours to find Voorhis not guilty.

The immigration agent could have faced a possible penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for each of two counts.

Voorhis remains on unpaid administrative leave and now must try to get his job back, attorney Taylor said.