BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
An attorney for the U.S. Justice Department battled in a federal appeals court Thursday to save the reputations and careers of colleagues sanctioned for allegedly covering up destruction of evidence. The lawyers were sanctioned when they were defending the Department of Veterans Affairs in a lawsuit filed by Barbara Palmer. U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman found the VA liable for the premature and unsupervised release of her ex-husband, John Bundy, from the Chillicothe VA mental ward in 1990.
After his release, Mr. Bundy went to Mrs. Palmer's home in Elsmere, where he shot and killed Elsmere Police Sgt. Bobby Palmer, Sgt. Palmer's daughter, Robyn, 3, and son, Casey, 2. Mrs. Palmer was the sergeant's wife and the children's mother.
Sgt. Palmer shot and killed Mr. Bundy despite fatal wounds. The latest saga in Mrs. Palmer's suit against the VA played out before three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati.
Judge Bertelsman said Justice Department lawyers covered up government destruction of evidence.
He sent his complaint to the Kentucky Bar Association and awarded about $100,000 additional fees to Mrs. Palmer's lawyers.
The government appealed and Justice Department attorney Thomas M. Bondy warned the 6th Circuit that the unjustified stigma would "ruin or damage" co-workers' careers if sanctions stood.
Mr. Bondy said Justice Department lawyers were the first to tell Judge Bertelsman that VA social worker Ray Goode might have destroyed vital records about the killer's mental condition. Moreover, Mr. Bondy said, since Mr. Goode changed his story, no one knows whether he trashed any documents and Justice Department lawyers were "good guys" for alerting the court to that possibility.
Phil Taliaferro, lead attorney for Mrs. Palmer, urged the 6th Circuit to trust Judge Bertelsman's assessment.
Mr. Taliaferro said Mr. Goode said at least three times that he'd destroyed some of Mr. Bundy's records at the request or order of one of the government attorneys.
He said Mr. Goode recanted and claimed he was "confused" only after Justice Department attorneys deliberately "panicked" him about his own criminal liability if records were destroyed. Finally, Mr. Taliaferro said, Justice Department lead attorney Patricia Reedy misled Judge Bertelsman when he asked about the situation.
Thursday's hearing also included an appeal by Mrs. Palmer. She said Judge Bertelsman mistakenly ordered income taxes withheld from the $3 million VA paid her.
