Here’s a unique argument – I fled from justice and was gone so long that I now have a right to escape justice completely!

Attorneys for Norman Hsu are prepared to argue in a Redwood City courtroom Friday that the disgraced Democratic fundraiser's 1992 grand theft conviction should be dismissed because prosecutors didn't try hard enough to find him after he skipped out on sentencing 15 years ago.

Hsu failed to show up for sentencing in 1992 after pleading no contest to a $1 million fraud scheme in San Mateo County. He fled to Asia, where he lived for several years, and eventually returned to the United States.

Since 2003, he has lived a public life despite his fugitive status, hosting major fundraisers in California and New York and raising $2 million in political campaign contributions, including more than $850,000 for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Photos of him with candidates were an Internet search away. His address was listed on the Federal Election Commission Web site, Hsu's attorney James Brosnahan wrote in papers filed in San Mateo County Superior Court.

"Mr. Hsu lived an open and public life, and the government made no apparent efforts to arrest him," Brosnahan wrote. "The case must be dismissed because the delay in sentencing violates Mr. Hsu's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial."
Brosnahan also argues Hsu should be allowed to withdraw his no-contest plea to a single count of grand theft because he has a right to be sentenced by the same judge who accepted the plea in 1992. That judge has since retired.

Sorry, Norman – the delay was entirely of your making. You waived your rights by running away. Your attempt to dodge responsibility for your crimes is pathetic – but typical of liberals.

Maybe you can buy a pardon in 2009. I hear the Clintons sell them cheap.

UPDATE: New strategy for Hsu -- delay hearings until after Hillary has the nomination.

Posted by: Greg at 12:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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