Attorneys for Yasiel Puig Accuse Government Authorities of Implicit Racial Bias

Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump says that the investigation – and resulting charges – are tainted by racism

Waymaker LLP's Filing seeks 5 years' worth of records from Justice Dept.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorneys representing professional baseball star Yasiel Puig are asking a judge to order federal authorities to turn over records concerning the investigative patterns of the prosecution team that led a five-year probe that resulted in two criminal charges against Puig.

In a filing in federal court, Puig's attorneys are accusing investigators of implicit bias in how they treat Black witnesses, saying that the evidence produced thus far shows that they are inclined to view Black men as untruthful and uncooperative, while viewing non-Black persons exactly the opposite – despite evidence to the contrary.

"This case caught my attention because I see a clear racial bias in how they evaluated Mr. Puig's credibility and treated him throughout this case," said Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney. "The government has charged him with what they claim are false statements and obstruction resulting from a single interview, when others who were actually involved in the gambling ring – who lied and destroyed evidence – were not so charged. Yasiel Puig was just a witness, and he was charged, reprimanded, and made an example of more than the non-Black men who were the actual targets of investigation. "

And when Puig asserted his right to plead not guilty, the government further punished him by adding an obstruction charge, Mr. Crump said. Moreover,  government officials have declined to meet with Puig's legal team to consider the important systemic bias issues, or the exculpatory evidence demonstrating that Puig did not lie or obstruct their investigation.

"I'm sick and tired of it and America should be, too," Mr. Crump said. "This is exactly what President Biden's appointees promised to tackle: implicit biases, biases that operate against people who are 'other' – like Black men, like people from other cultures, and who speak other languages. Yasiel Puig is all of those things."

"Yet here in Los Angeles, California, a place that is supposedly a beacon of liberal values, the new U.S. Attorney won't even take a meeting to discuss the implicit biases that affected the judgment of his team?" Crump asked. "The type of prejudice that happened in this case is insidious: a dual standard being applied to Black men, and then stonewalling from the government."

The filing accuses federal authorities of treating the Black witnesses – several current and former professional athletes and their managers, none of whom were targets in the case – very differently from the non-Black individuals who were the focus of the investigation.

The non-black agents of Sand Island Sports, which the government charged with being an unlicensed gambling operation, were consistently treated respectfully by the government. In fact, federal agents gave the suspects multiple interviews to clarify their statements.  Non-Black individuals who obviously lied were not charged with making false statements or obstruction of justice, the filing states.

By comparison, Black athletes and managers, whose only role was to place bets in with Sand Island Sports, were interrupted or admonished that it was a crime to lie, threatened with prosecution, or queried about whether they were telling the truth, to control their interviews. The motion asserts that the interviews show a pre-disposition by the government to assume that Black witnesses are intentionally lying.

"The government's decision to disbelieve Mr. Puig, deny him any opportunity to prepare or to refresh his recollection, and then prosecute him, stems from a biased perspective of credibility and cooperation," said Keri Curtis Axel, a partner at Waymaker LLP and a former Asst. U.S. Attorney, who filed the motion. "Simply put, the investigators' implicit biases have hampered their judgment in deciding who is telling the truth, who is interfering with their investigation, and who is not."

The filing asks Judge Dolly M. Gee to order the government to produce records that include investigative techniques and practices, which would provide Puig the opportunity to pursue dismissal because of "selective prosecution," meaning that the government's prosecutorial policy had both a discriminatory purpose and a discriminatory effect.

SOURCE Waymaker LLP