Federal judge blasts Miami prosecutors for spying on defense

By JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — A judge in Miami has admonished federal prosecutors for instructing a cooperating witness to gather information on his co-defendants and then lying to the court to cover up misconduct he said violated their constitutional right to a fair trial. The rebuke came in an excoriating ruling unsealed Wednesday by Judge Darrin Gayles that orders a new trial in the case of three friends found guilty in a 2017 trial of mail fraud and sentenced to more than six years in prison. The case revolved around a cooperating witness prosecutors instructed to spy on his co-defendants to gain an upper leg at trial.