Probe sought of Flathead County Attorney

Alleging unethical and criminal activities by county prosecutors and a drug enforcement officer, three local attorneys have asked the Montana Attorney General’s Office for a full investigation.

John Quatman, Phyllis Quatman and Tim Baldwin, banded together as the Criminal Defense Attorneys Association, claim county attorney Ed Corrigan, deputy county attorney Kenneth “Rusty” Park and Northwest Drug Task Force officer McKeag Johns of interfering with attorney-client privilege in a case involving illegal drugs, guns and a confidential informant dealing with a meth addiction.

The attorneys cite as key evidence a recorded phone conversation between Johns and Kristina Franklin, a confidential informant in several drug investigations. Franklin recorded the conversation without Johns’ knowledge because she was scared for her family, Baldwin said.

Montana Assistant Attorney General Brant Light responded to the local attorneys’ letter last week, denying their request for an investigation. Light said he “didn’t believe any of the allegations you have outlined in your letter warrant a criminal investigation of Ed Corrigan or Kenneth Park.”

While acknowledging that the ethics allegations were “troubling,” Light said the Commission on Practice handles such matters. He said he forwarded a copy of the local attorneys’ complaint to the commission.

Meth and guns

Franklin’s husband, Cory Franklin, had been charged with conspiracy to distribute dangerous drugs and possession of dangerous drugs. Those charges were eventually dismissed after his attorney, Baldwin, filed a Rule 11 motion alleging wrongdoing by the county attorney’s office.

According to Baldwin, the transcript of Franklin’s June 4 phone recording shows witness tampering by Johns.

“It’s a 26-minute conversation where McKeag Johns threatens her up and down, impugns me as an attorney, references Park and Corrigan as the source of the information he’s receiving, and also that he has no control over what they’re doing and what he’s doing to her,” Baldwin said.

Baldwin filed his Rule 11 motion calling for sanctions against the county attorney’s office on July 18. The three attorneys sent their request for an investigation to the Montana Attorney General on Aug. 25.

Park, Corrigan, Franklin and probation officer Paul Parrish testified in a three-hour hearing on the matter before Flathead County District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht on Sept. 5. The Flathead County Human Resource Department is also reportedly investigating the matter.

Saying he couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation, Corrigan nonetheless called allegations that his office had coerced guilty pleas by threatening families or withholding discovery documents “nonsense.”

“These sorts of things are not unusual,” he said. “It’s not uncommon for a disgruntled defendant or disgruntled defense attorney to file complaints with either the attorney general or with the Office of Disciplinary Council.”

Political angles

In the transcript to the phone recording, Franklin insisted her husband was innocent of allegations that he had five guns in a Durango he drove to a hotel that was under surveillance. Her husband was under probation at the time and not allowed to possess firearms, but she insisted he never was found holding illegal drugs.

Franklin, who became a confidential informant for the Northwest Drug Task Force, was also concerned that Park would charge her with a crime, leaving her three children without parents.

Johns on several occasions praised Franklin’s undercover work, but he sharply warned her that he would throw her in jail if she started using meth again.

“Because I care about the well-being of your children,” he said.

Johns also warned her about Baldwin’s relationship with Park and the county attorney’s office. He told her that the Public Defenders Office fired Baldwin for billing too many hours in one case and that the county attorney’s office wouldn’t hire him because of his father.

Baldwin’s father, Chuck Baldwin, a radio show host, former Baptist pastor from Florida and Constitution Party presidential candidate in 2008, had moved to Montana in 2010 after God told him that Rocky Mountain states were the “tip of the spear in the freedom fight.”

“So right here and now, I’ll say it one more time,” Johns told Franklin. “That you need to look into the attorney that you have and make sure you’re getting along with him correctly. Because it comes down to, do you want the entire county attorney’s office against you?”

Johns said Baldwin “has his own agenda” and that Franklin and her husband “have become his puppets.”

“And he will use you to not only get a paycheck, but he’s going to use you to pass along his own opinions,” Johns said.

Franklin, however, saw it differently. Her husband could be headed for prison despite his innocence “because Rusty wants to prove a (expletive) point. And it’s like he doesn’t even care if he’s guilty or innocent, he just wants a guilty verdict.”

Johns partially conceded her point, noting that “Rusty’s got too much personal involvement in this case, we’re going to give it to somebody else.”

In the end, however, the county attorney’s office dismissed the charges against Cory Franklin.

Baldwin said he was disappointed the Montana Attorney General’s Office declined to spend any time looking into the matter.

“It appears to me that the Attorney General’s Office really didn’t want to get involved with this,” he said.

Richard Hanners writes for the Hungry Horse News