DENVER—A federal agent was acquitted Wednesday on charges he illegally got information from a restricted criminal database that ended up in a campaign ad slamming Gov. Bill Ritter for plea bargains with illegal immigrants when he was a prosecutor.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis had been charged with exceeding his authorized access to government computers, and prosecutors argued he had acted for political purposes during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign. He faced up to three years in prison if convicted.
A federal court jury took only about two hours to return the not-guilty verdict after a weeklong trial.
Cheers erupted from the courtroom packed with family, about a dozen ICE agents and other supporters, who said Voorhis was simply exposing lax enforcement of immigration laws. Some said “Thank you, Lord” when the judge read the verdict.
Voorhis hugged teary-eyed supporters. Pointing to an American flag pin on his lapel, Voorhis told one supporter, “This is what I represent.”
He declined further comment. His attorney, Bill Taylor, later said the verdict restores Voorhis’ reputation.
“Cory was never going to plead guilty to anything, because he firmly believed that what he had done was nothing more than his job,” Taylor said. “He was prepared for a jury to disagree with him, if they saw the facts that way. But he was confident he would be acquitted.”
Ritter’s campaign first alerted authorities to a possible violation of the law.
“We respect the jury’s finding,” Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Cheyenne, Wyo., which prosecuted the case, said the matter had worked its way through the justice system.
Voorhis has been on unpaid administrative leave. ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said he did not know when Voorhis might be allowed to return to work or whether he was the subject of an internal investigation.
The information taken from the criminal database dealt with suspects who accepted plea deals with Ritter, a Democrat, when he was Denver district attorney.
One of those suspects, an illegal immigrant facing a heroin charge, was allowed to plead to a less serious charge of agricultural trespassing, which allowed him to avoid deportation.
An ad run by Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez, Ritter’s opponent in the race, alleged that after getting that plea deal, the suspect was charged with a sex crime in California.
Jury foreman Craig Disney agreed with the defense that Voorhis was simply doing his job. Whether the information was provided to a campaign for use in an attack ad didn’t matter to Disney, who said the testimony showed Voorhis’ job description included cultivating relationships with the public, including politicians and the media.
“It may not have been the best choice on his part” to provide information to a campaign, Disney said, but testimony indicated Voorhis did not break the law.
Many of Voorhis’ supporters compared him to Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, who were convicted of assault, obstruction of justice and civil rights violations in the wounding of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila on the border near El Paso, Texas, in 2005.
Voorhis’ supporters said Compean, Ramos and Voorhis were prosecuted for simply enforcing immigration laws.
“Today justice prevailed in what has been a long and gut-wrenching witch hunt,” Beauprez said in a statement. Eighteen months ago, “I referred to him as a hero for his courage in exposing a travesty of justice. Today a jury concurred,” he said
Dennis Lynch, a former member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an anti-illegal immigration group, said he was pleased.
“This may be an indication that we’re turning the corner and maybe the media and the public will pay attention to the people who protect us,” said Lynch, who was in the courtroom.
Many criticized the U.S. attorney’s office for filing the case.
“These were trumped-up charges,” said Mike Ribeau, a retired ICE agent and acting spokesman for the Cory Legal Defense group, which raised money for Voorhis’ legal fees. “It should have been remanded to the office of ICE to be handled administratively.”
