DeMarco

MEMORANDUM OPINION

In the years 1970, 1971, and 1972, former President Richard M. Nixon claimed tax deductions based on an alleged 1969 charitable contribution to the United States of pre-Presidential papers worth $576,000. Questions as to the validity of those deductions sparked investigations by, or authorized by, a number of governmental bodies including the Internal Revenue Service, the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation of the Congress of the United States, and the Watergate Special Prosecution Force.

One result of those investigations was the indictment in this case of Frank DeMarco, Jr., an attorney who handled Mr. Nixon’s tax affairs. The gravamen of the indictment was that DeMarco conspired to and did make false statements on a number of occasions to investigating governmental agencies about the material facts surrounding the alleged 1969 gift of papers.

Thus this is no ordinary criminal matter. The public interest in a resolution of the issues raised by the government’s indictment is manifest. But the public has a greater interest in the proper administration of our system of criminal justice. The defendant Frank DeMarco, Jr. has moved to dismiss charges…