EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A St. Louis area attorney, already indicted on charges of cocaine possession and transporting a boy across state lines for sex, may have tried to intimidate a government witness by sending a fax, a federal prosecutor said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Clark wrote that Tom Lakin violated a court order prohibiting him from contacting government witnesses by sending a handwritten note and grand jury testimony to a witness'attorney.
AUSA Stephen Clark filed notice with U.S. District Judge Phil Gilbert on Dec. 31, stating that the government had decided to not hand over more than 1,000 pages of grand jury testimony to Lakin and his attorney, Scott Rosenblum of St. Louis, because of the incident.
Clark said Lakin called the attorney directly and told the attorney that the defense team would like to interview the witness before the deposition, and asked if the attorney would like a copy of the witness' grand jury testimony that the government did not provide.
Lakin then allegedly faxed 30 pages of documents to the attorney, including grand jury testimony, three witness statements and four pages of handwritten notes.
Clark wrote in his filing, "The notes appear to contain possible lines of attack that could be used against the witness in cross examination at the deposition; however, some lines of attack would likely be inadmissible, which suggests the possibility that the notes were sent with the purpose of intimidation or embarrassment."
Clark claims one of Lakin's attorneys, Gilbert Sison, told him that the inclusion of the note was accidental.
"Under the circumstances, the undersigned is skeptical of Lakin's veracity and believes that there is a possibility that Lakin's inclusion of the note may have been purposeful, intended to harass and embarrass the witness," Clark wrote. "In any event, due to Defendant Lakin's release of grand jury material and other documents, and his arguable violation of this Court's order to have no contact with witnesses, the Government will retain further discovery."
Clark added that Lakin's attorneys can come to his office to review discovery, but no copies will be available.
A federal grand jury indicted Lakin in April 2007 on eight charges. A superseding indictment returned on Nov. 14 increased the number of charges to 18.
Lakin's trial is scheduled to begin March 17.
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