by Jon Cohen/Science Insider on 5 December 2011,
When Judy Mikovits, a researcher well-known for her controversial
studies linking a mouse retrovirus to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS),
was jailed on a felony charge of being a fugitive from justice, she
could not defend herself from behind bars and her criminal attorney
chose not to comment. But now she has a new attorney, Scott Freeman,
and he has plenty to say about her case. "She maintains her innocence
and we anticipate defending her aggressively," says Freeman, who is
based in Reno, Nevada. "Obviously, she's not someone who is a
criminal."
Mikovits is being charged with possessing stolen property from the
Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease (WPI), which is
located on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. Mikovits
worked at WPI for 4 years until being fired in September for
insubordination. She helped bring the fledgling WPI to fame with a
report she co-authored that ran in Science 2 years ago that tied a
mouse retrovirus called XMRV to CFS.
According to an affidavit from a campus police officer that led to her
arrest warrant, she told a lab assistant to "illegally enter her
former office" and retrieve lab notebooks, a laptop computer, flash
drives and correspondence that belonged to the institute. On 18
November, Mikovits, who lives in Ventura, California, was arrested and
jailed there on a felony charge of being a fugitive from justice. Bail
was set at $100,000 cash. "The original warrant out was extremely
dramatic to have a $100,000 cash-only bail for somebody who has no
history of being a risk to the community or a risk of flight," says
Freeman. "So those are the very significant issues that we're going to
be investigating. Why is she not being treated like everybody else?"
Mikovits made bail on 22 November, and turned over the disputed lab
notebooks to the Ventura County police. She went to Reno the next day
and surrendered to the Washoe County jail, which freed her on her own
recognizance.
Freeman argues that, legally speaking, it's unimportant how she
obtained the material in dispute. "The question is whether or not she
had the criminal intent to permanently deprive the institute of
property that belonged to them," he says, adding that he hopes to get
the case dismissed.
Mikovits is also the subject of a civil case filed 4 November by WPI
over the same property, which it says was "misappropriated." In that
case, WPI alleges that she "masterminded" the theft of the property
and submitted affidavits from the lab assistant who said he took the
material at her behest. A civil attorney for Mikovits initially denied
that she possessed the material.
Mikovits will have an arraignment hearing on 10 January, but Freeman
says that he will simply request a new court date. "Part of the
challenge in representing someone like her is essentially that we're
taking a scientist with her extensive credentials and trying to
educate her as a client on what it's like to be a defendant in a
criminal case," says Freeman. "This is an area she never thought she'd
be in in her life, and she's fighting for her life."
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/12/criminal-attorney-speaks-for-con.html?ref=ra
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