From: To: Subject: Date: Importance: Priority: Attachments: Inline-Images: "Michele Dargan" Alexander Acosta's published letter Mon, 28 Mar 2011 20:16:34 +0000 normal normal Alex_Acosta_letter.jpg; Acosta_letter_pg.2_.jpg; Acosta_letter_pg._3.jpg image.jpg; image(1).jpg; image(2).jpg; image(3).jpg Hi Mr. Black, I am following up on Alexander Acosta's letter, dated March 2011 that was published on Friday in the Daily Beast. In the letter, Mr. Acosta makes references to you and the other attorneys representing Mr. Epstein regarding felony charges in 2007-2008 and the events surrounding Mr. Epstein's eventual guilty plea. I have attached a copy of the letter to this e-mail. I would like a written response from you as to the allegations contained in Mr. Acosta's letter that were directed at Mr. Epstein's defense team. Specifically, Mr. Acosta writes: Over the next several months, the defense team presented argument after argument claiming that felony criminal proceedings against Epstein were unsupported by the evidence and lacked a basis in law, and that the office's insistence on jail-time was motivated by a zeal to overcharge a man merely because he is wealthy. They bolstered their arguments with legal opinions from well- known legal experts. One member of the defense team warned me that the office's excess zeal in forcing a good man to serve time in jail might be the subject of a book if we continued to proceed with this matter. My office systematically considered and rejected each argument, and when we did, my office's decisions were appealed to Washington. As to the warning, I ignored it. The defense strategy was not limited to legal issues. Defense counsel investigated individual prosecutors and their families, looking for personal peccadilloes that may provide a basis for disqualification. Disqualifying a prosecutor is an effective (though rarely used) strategy, as eliminating the individuals most familiar with the facts and thus