By Tom Eldred,
Delaware State News
WILMINGTON - Lawyers for a prison counselor who was abducted and raped at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna fired off a critical response Friday to Gov. Ruth Ann Minner's announcement that she was directly involved in the hostage-taking situation.
According to a Minner re-election campaign radio ad that began airing statewide on Wednesday, the governor made the decision on how to disarm serial rapist Scott A. Miller during a nearly seven-hour standoff at the prison on July 12.
Miller, 45, was shot and killed by a correctional officer shortly after he raped 27-year-old prison counselor Cassandra Arnold.
Ms. Arnold sued Gov. Minner and top Department of Correction officials in federal court on Oct. 12, claiming ongoing security lapses, inadequate staffing and ineffective supervision at DCC directly contributed to her ordeal.
The radio ad "includes statements regarding (Gov. Minner's) involvement in the prison hostage tragedy that raise troubling questions, the answers to which raise fundamental inconsistencies in the governor's position as well as gaps in her credibility,'' lawyers Herbert G. Feuerhake and Jeffrey K. Martin said in their three-page prepared response.
Among their concerns, the attorneys said, is the statement in the radio ad that says, "As governor, Ruth Ann Minner made the difficult decision of how to disarm the hostage taker. She decided the prison crisis team was best qualified.''
"That statement indicates a level of involvement on the part of the governor in the events of July 12, 2004, that flies in the face of positions that the governor has taken prior to this point,'' the lawyers said.
The radio ad was the first public announcement that Gov. Minner was directly involved in the July 12 hostage crisis at the prison, or that she made decisions as to how to resolve it.
In response to questions about the ad from the Delaware State News Thursday, the governor would only say that she "communicated'' with Correction Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor throughout the seven-hour siege and had "approved'' all decisions he made toward resolving it.
She told the newspaper, however, that she stood by the content of her radio campaign ad.
In their statement Friday, Mr. Martin and Mr. Feuerhake referred to a Sept. 28 letter Mr. Martin received from Joseph C. Schoell, chief counsel to Gov. Minner.
In the letter, a copy of which was released to the State News by the governor's office, Mr. Schoell said he would not recommend a $3.9 million settlement to Ms. Arnold's claims that had been proposed by her lawyers.
Mr. Schoell also advised against including Gov. Minner in Ms. Arnold's threatened lawsuit.
"If you are intent on filing suit this week, I urge you to reconsider naming the governor as a defendant, in light of your obligations under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures,'' Mr. Schoell wrote.
"I assume you may believe that the naming of the governor would help maintain continued media coverage on this case, but there is no basis for abusing federal process by naming the governor as a defendant in this suit.''
Mr. Feuerhake and Mr. Martin said they interpret Mr. Schoell's response to mean Gov. Minner was not involved in the hostage-taking crisis.
"The implication of this warning (per rules of court procedure) would be clear to any attorney,'' they said in their Friday statement.
"Mr. Schoell was saying that there was neither a factual basis, nor even a legitimate expectation of the potential discovery of a basis, for naming the governor as a defendant in the lawsuit brought on behalf of Cassie.
"(Mr.) Schoell's statement says, in effect, that the governor was not involved in any way in the hostage crisis events of July 12, 2004, and hence could not be a defendant.
"Now, in direct contradiction to this statement of her attorney, Mr. Schoell, Gov. Minner's advertisement claims direct involvement in key aspects of the hostage crisis.
"Which is it, Gov. Minner: were you involved? Or were you not involved? You cannot have it both ways.''
Kate Bailey, a spokeswoman for Gov. Minner, said neither the governor nor Mr. Schoell would comment on Ms. Arnold's lawyers' statements because of the pending federal lawsuit.
Mr. Martin and Mr. Feuerhake also questioned why Gov. Minner - given the role she says she played in the July 12 incident - was not mentioned in two investigations already completed into the incident.
The state Department of Justice probed the use of deadly force in killing Miller and determined the officer's shooting was justified. DOC released its internal review of the incident Oct. 6. Neither mentioned Gov. Minner.
"In neither of these investigatory reports is the governor's central role recognized,'' the lawyers said. "Presumably, if the governor was centrally involved in these events, she should have been centrally featured in the investigatory reports. But this was not the case.''
Attorney General M. Jane Brady explained her office's investigation of the use of deadly force was limited solely to those individuals directly involved with the shooting, and whether deadly force was justified, considering the immediate situation at hand.
She said the "authority'' for use of deadly force was not part of the probe.
"Our investigation was focused purely on whether conduct at the scene constituted the lawful use of deadly force,'' she said.
"Who Stan Taylor talked to or whether he needed the authority of the governor was not within the scope of our investigation. Who authorized it was irrelevant to our investigation.''
Ms. Brady said her office determined that the officer decided to shoot Miller when he became aware Ms. Arnold was raped.
"When he saw she was being raped, he exercised the authority he had been given,'' she said.
"It appeared at that moment, from every reasonable interpretation, that Miller was going to kill (Ms. Arnold.)''
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Senior writer Tom Eldred can be reached at 741-8212 or at teldred@newszap.com.
Reprinted with permission of newszap.com
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