In the interests of fairness in the Secretary Acosta affair – or, lack thereof – David Oscar Markus has come to his defense, also in the pages of the Miami Herald.
Then last week, the Miami Herald retold the story of Jeffrey Epstein’s plea deal from over 10 years ago, when Secretary Acosta was U.S. Attorney Acosta. Although Epstein was required to plead guilty, register as a sex offender, pay restitution and go to state prison, there are many — including the New York Times, Miami Herald, and others — who are calling for Congress to investigate Acosta and force him out, equating Acosta’s approval of the deal to Epstein’s actions.
Although it is fair to have an honest disagreement about the Epstein plea agreement, the attacks on Acosta are not justified. As for the merits of the agreement, it is important to remember that the federal government only prosecutes federal crimes.
At the time this case was being investigated, there were serious questions about whether Epstein’s crimes had the required federal nexus. These were traditional state court crimes with local victims, which the federal government decided should be prosecuted by the state system.
In addition, there were legitimate concerns about how a trial would have turned out. These trials are difficult as the Michael Jackson (acquitted) and Bill Cosby (hung jury before eventually obtaining conviction, which is now subject to appeal) cases have shown. Here, prosecutors have said that many of the victims either refused to testify or were going to say things that helped Epstein.
I would actually be relieved if Acosta were exonerated. While I do not give the Department of Labor much credit for improvements in employment rates and that sort of thing, it’d be good for my stomach to be able to consider him an honorable guy.
