
DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709260770

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   70 lines

HOUSE OKS MAKING U.S. LIABLE FOR LEGAL FEES IN ERRANT PROSECUTIONS

The House, over the strong objections of the Clinton administration, approved a measure Thursday requiring the federal government to reimburse citizens for the legal costs of unwarranted criminal prosecutions.

The amendment to a 1998 spending bill, passed 340-84, would require the government to pay the legal costs of defendants who win in criminal cases unless it can prove the prosecution was substantially justified.

Individuals would be entitled to reimbursement of up to $125 an hour in attorney fees.

``If someone is a prosecutor and they are going to wrench somebody out of their job and their home and put them on trial as a criminal, there ought to be enough in the case that it is substantially justified,'' said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and originator of the amendment.

The administration, in a statement, said the entire $31.7 billion spending bill, which pays for Commerce, Justice and State Department programs in fiscal 1998, would be subject to a veto if the Hyde provision remains. It is not included in the companion Senate bill.

The administration said the amendment ``would have a profound and harmful impact on the federal criminal justice system'' by creating a monetary incentive for defense attorneys to bring suit against prosecutors.

It added that ``the amendment, which would provide for reimbursement out of the budget of federal prosecutors, would have a chilling effect on prosecutorial discretion.''

Rep. Lynn Rivers, D-Mich., noted the Constitution already requires that a grand jury find probable cause before a person can be charged with a federal felony.

``Mr. Hyde's proposal offers nothing more in terms of deterring errant prosecution. It simply creates a forum for members of Congress to argue that they have been unjustly targeted for political reasons,'' she said.

Hyde's amendment expands a provision in the bill that gives financial relief to members of Congress and their staffs when they prevail in an improper prosecution.

That section was inserted at the urging of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., as a gesture toward Rep. Joe McDade, R-Pa. McDade, who would not benefit from the bill, was acquitted last year after an eight-year fight against federal charges of bribery and racketeering.

Hyde said that was too narrow. ``It only takes care of congressmen and their staffs. It ought to protect anybody who is abused by a suit that is not substantially justified.''

Hyde himself this summer paid $57,000 in legal bills from a government lawsuit against him and other directors of a collapsed savings and loan.

Hyde and the 11 other directors were accused of negligence in the $68 million collapse in 1990 of Clyde Savings and Loan. He was the only director who refused to contribute to an $850,000 settlement that led to dismissal of the lawsuit last March. He paid the legal fees with contributions from a legal defense fund.

Unlike the measure offered Thursday, which covers criminal cases, that was a civil case. Defendants in civil cases are already eligible for reimbursement when improperly prosecuted. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

HOW THEY VOTED

A ``yes'' vote is a vote to approve the amendment.

Herbert H. Bateman, R-Va. Yes

Owen B. Pickett, D-Va. Yes

Robert C. Scott, D-Va. Yes

Norman Sisisky, D-Va. Yes

Eva Clayton, D-N.C. Yes

Walter Jones Jr., R-N.C. Yes