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SCHWARZ WANTS ‘VINDICTIVE' PERJURY CHARGE THROWN OUT By KATI CORNELL SMITH
April 4, 2002 -- Calling perjury charges against Charles Schwarz a "vindictive prosecution" geared to scare off potential witnesses, lawyers for the ex-cop are mounting a fight to get the new indictment nixed. "What it is, is a warning . . . that anyone that takes the witness stand and testifies that Chuck Schwarz is innocent will be indicted for perjury," defense lawyer Ronald Fischetti said outside Brooklyn federal court yesterday. The attorney's remarks followed an arraignment in which Schwarz pleaded not guilty to charges that, while testifying during his 2000 conspiracy trial, he lied about his role in the notorious 1997 bathroom torture attack on Abner Louima. "I've been saying from day one, I'm innocent," Schwarz told reporters. "I was not in that bathroom. I've been saying that since the beginning, and nothing the government says or does is going to change that." The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals recently tossed the coverup conspiracy convictions of Schwarz and fellow ex-cops Thomas Bruder and Thomas Wiese, citing a lack of evidence to prove the narrow charge of obstructing a grand-jury investigation. The judges also ordered a new trial for Schwarz on charges that he violated Louima's civil rights by holding down the Haitian immigrant while now-imprisoned Justin Volpe sodomized him with a stick in the 70th Precinct station house. Schwarz had served nearly three years of a 15-year prison sentence when he was released on $1 million bail bond last month. He was charged last week with lying on the stand when he denied leading Louima to the bathroom and being there during the attack. "These are charges that have been brought simply because Chuck Schwarz's case was reversed by the court of appeals. It is nothing more than a vindictive prosecution," Fischetti said. Yesterday, U.S. Attorney Alan Vinegrad told Judge Reena Raggi that he wants the perjury and civil-rights cases handled in the same trial, set to begin June 24. In court papers, Vinegrad said combining the cases would "promote efficiency," since he plans to use the same witnesses in both prosecutions. The jury could, however, still acquit on the sexual-assault charges but find Schwarz guilty of perjury, the prosecutor wrote. Schwarz's lawyers oppose consolidation, and said the prosecutor's tactical goal is to intimidate witnesses - specifically Wiese, Bruder and Volpe. All three ex-cops have made statements, either to authorities or on the stand, supporting Schwarz's contention that he was nowhere near the bathroom during Louima's attack. Attorney Diarmuid White told Raggi the defense team would file a motion to dismiss the new indictment before the next court date of April 12.
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