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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Cornelius Blackshear.md
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@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ White had been deposed shortly before Blackshear and had testified that Stanton
What the recantation left standing: Blackshear continued to maintain that White told him the IRS pressured White to move to convert the UPI case, and he disagreed with White about a conversation concerning the assignment of Harry Jones to Washington. In a sworn statement to House investigators on January 25, 1991, he said his earlier information was hearsay, largely from Pasciuto, and said of the choice between his account and White's: "it would become a credibility question." The House committee headed that part of its report "Judge Blackshear's statement to committee lacks credibility."[^2] Pasciuto claimed that Blackshear had admitted giving false testimony in the recantation to avoid hurting people; Blackshear denied it.[^3]
Bason accepted Blackshear's original testimony as true and found the recantation an honest mistake; in January 1991 he filed a complaint with the Judicial Council of the Second Circuit stating that Blackshear recanted "not because of an honest mistake but because he made a conscious choice to testify falsely."[^5] DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility, in a report of March 31, 1989, credited the recantation. The Bua report wrote that "[t]his series of contradictory statements can only be described as troubling," that "[a]t best, it reveals a rather malleable witness," and that "there simply is not sufficient evidence to prove (by any standard) that Blackshear lied when he recanted his deposition testimony."[^3]
The Associated Press reported in May 1988 that Pasciuto's attorney, Gary Simpson, quoted Blackshear in a March 17 letter to the Justice Department as saying, "I felt less people would be hurt if I just bailed out," and "I thought that by changing my story I would hurt less people."[^6] Bason accepted Blackshear's original testimony as true and found the recantation an honest mistake; in January 1991 he filed a complaint with the Judicial Council of the Second Circuit stating that Blackshear recanted "not because of an honest mistake but because he made a conscious choice to testify falsely."[^5] DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility, in a report of March 31, 1989, credited the recantation. The Bua report wrote that "[t]his series of contradictory statements can only be described as troubling," that "[a]t best, it reveals a rather malleable witness," and that "there simply is not sufficient evidence to prove (by any standard) that Blackshear lied when he recanted his deposition testimony."[^3]
Bankruptcy Judge Bason, in his findings, chose to believe Blackshear's original testimony and found his recantation to be the result of an "honest mistake." However, several years later, in January 1991, Bason filed a complaint against Blackshear with the Judicial Council of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, stating that he now believed Blackshear recanted not due to an honest mistake but because he made a conscious choice to testify falsely. The OPR, however, credited Blackshear's recantation, noting that he had no apparent motive to lie about the matter. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) found Blackshear's recantation implausible, noting that he had stated on four occasions prior to his recantation that White told him about pressure from Stanton to convert the Inslaw case. The PSI also found no evidence to support Blackshear's explanation that he had confused Inslaw with the UPI case. The Special Counsel's investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Blackshear lied when he recanted his deposition testimony. The report acknowledged the confusion arising from Blackshear's various statements but attributed it to poor memory rather than intentional misstatements. The Special Counsel found no reason why Blackshear, a sitting bankruptcy judge, would commit perjury and jeopardize his career.[^1]
@ -30,3 +30,4 @@ Bankruptcy Judge Bason, in his findings, chose to believe Blackshear's original
[^3]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, pp. 192-194, 195-196, 209, 215-223. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General of the United States Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* March 1993, pp. 229-230. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^5]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair.* H. Rept. 102-857, 102d Cong., 2d sess., September 10, 1992, Part V.D, p. 78 (Bason's complaint of January 2, 1991).
[^6]: Associated Press, "U.S. Probing Possible Perjury in Inslaw Case," *Los Angeles Times*, May 6, 1988, Part IV, pp. 9, 12. https://www.newspapers.com/image/404305287/