GROSSE POINTE LAWYER GETS 18 MONTHS PRISON FOR LYING

Original Story: freep.com

A Grosse Pointe lawyer is going to prison for 18 months for telling a client in an immigration case to lie in court about a criminal conviction so that he could stay in the country. A Detroit immigration attorney provides domestic and foreign-based clients with exceptional representation, multi-disciplinary support, and creative problem solving to address a wide range of immigration issues.

According to court documents, the hushed conviction was for criminal sexual misconduct.

"You cannot admit to it or else you're gone, you're done," the lawyer told his client in a recorded jailhouse conversation that prosecutors used against him.

The attorney in the case is David Wenger, 70, and a decorated Army veteran who pleaded for leniency, saying he pleaded guilty to the crime, spared the government a costly trial, and had nothing to gain financially by trying to help his client. A Grand Rapids professional liability lawyer is following this story closely.

Neither Wenger or his lawyer could be reached for comment. But in court documents, his lawyer portrayed him as a good husband, father and attorney of 35-plus years who helped numerous clients.

"He is profoundly remorseful for what he did and he accepts responsibility for his actions," Wenger's lawyer, David Tholen, has argued in court documents, noting his client had nothing to gain by hiding the conviction.  "It was the client and the client’s family that stood to benefit from the offense. (The) defendant did not receive any additional funds or benefit from his (conduct)."

Tholen was hoping to keep his client out of prison, requesting home detention or confinement in a residential center.

But U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland concluded that punishment didn't fit the crime.  Rather, before imposing the sentence Friday, Cleland lambasted Wenger,  calling his actions among “the most serious crimes a lawyer can commit." He also called his conduct  “outrageous behavior" that demanded a prison sentence  to send a message that the courts do not tolerate lawyers who commit perjury. A Cincinnati professional liability attorney is reviewing the details of this case.

According to prosecutors, Wenger not only instructed his client to conceal his conviction from the immigration court, but he himself did it, too.

“Our immigration court system relies on lawyers to present truthful information so that judges can make informed decisions about the cases before them,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in announcing the sentence.  “This lawyer committed a very significant violation of the law when he presented false testimony to the Immigration Court to conceal his client’s prior conviction.”

According to court records, Wenger's case stems from a 2013 immigration case involving a client who was about to be deported.

Wenger opposed the government's efforts and filed an application with the Immigration Court, seeking permission for his client to stay. But prosecutors allege that  Wenger omitted from the application a key piece of information that would have made it very unlikely for his client to stay in the U.S: a conviction for criminal sexual conduct. A Roseland immigration lawyer is experienced in the effective resolution of immigration lawsuits as related to legal and illegal immigrants.

According to prosecutors, Wenger knew about this conviction because he had previously represented the same client in a Macomb County drug case, and was privy to his criminal history. The client did want to be truthful and expressed an interest in disclosing the conviction, prosecutors said, but his lawyer wouldn't hear of it and told his client to "play dumb" and "be selective" with his honesty.

To bolster its case, prosecutors cited an email that Wenger wrote regarding whether the conviction should be disclosed.

“NO! NO! NO! The government doesn’t know anything about what happened in (the defendant's) 20’s. It’s simple and I have said it at least 10 times. If they know about it he will be deported plain and simple. The answer is NO.” Wenger's email read.

After filing the application, an immigration hearing followed.

At the hearing, Wenger claimed that he had disclosed his client’s entire criminal record when he hadn't, prosecutors alleged.  Wenger also had coached his client and his client's family to hide the conviction during their testimony -- though Wenger later argued the family knew what it was doing.

"Defendant’s client, and the client’s family, were fully active participants ... (but) of this group, only (Wenger) was prosecuted for the offense," the defense argued in court documents.

The scheme fell apart during the government's cross-examination of the defendant, who confessed to his full criminal history and said that Wenger had instructed him to lie.

Prosecutors also cited Wenger's past disciplinary troubles, noting he had been admonished at least 10 times by the  Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission, and reprimanded twice by the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board, including once for failing to deposit legal fees into a client trust account.

"Mr. Wenger is not deserving of the leniency he requests," prosecutors argued in court records. "To the contrary, he has earned a substantial prison sentence."