Dentist wins retrial in Haitian bribery case
Fulton man, advocate for Caribbean island, gets new case; deficient counsel cited
A Howard County dentist has won a retrial in a federal case in which he and another man were convicted of conspiring to bribe Haitian officials to gain business advantages on the Caribbean island.
A federal judge on March 12 granted Dr.
John Baptiste, 67, of Fulton, a longtime advocate for Haitian causes in the United States, a new trial on the grounds of deficient counsel in his 2019 trial in Boston.
Baptiste, the founder and chairman of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, a Silver Springbased nonprofit, and Roger Richard Boncy, a dual U.S.-Haitian citizen who lives in Spain, also petitioned the court for acquittal on the same grounds, but U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs denied that request.
“Dr. Baptiste is grateful that Judge Burroughs recognized he did not get a fair trial and ordered a new one,” said Daniel Marx, his attorney.
Marx’s firm, Fick & Marx of Boston, entered the case on Baptiste’s behalf after the initial verdict, which was delivered in June.
A federal grand jury in 2018 charged Baptiste and Boncy with conspiring to violate the Travel Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with an $84 million port development project they were trying to arrange in Mole-Saint- Nicolas in northwestern Haiti.
The proposed project was to involve the construction of cement factories, a shipping-vessel recycling station, an international transshipment station, a power plant and tourist facilities, according to a report filed by the U.S. Department of Justice at the time.
Federal prosecutors alleged at the men’s two-week trial that they had conspired to pay millions of dollars in bribes to Haitian officials to do business there, and they played for jurors recordings of the men telling undercover FBI agents that they would funnel the agents’ payments to senior Haitian officials through Baptiste’s nonprofit, commonly known as NOAH, an organization that is designed to help impoverished Haitians.
The jury convicted the men on charges of violating the Travel Act, which makes it a federal offense to travel between nations with the intent of promoting an illegal activity, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for Americans or American companies to pay foreign officials to win business.
Baptiste, a retired U.S. Army colonel and practicing dentist who had used NOAH to channel aid to Haitians at moments of crisis, including in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated the island nation in 2010, faced a possible 20 years in prison and $500,000 fine.
In her 16-page memorandum on her ruling, Burroughs wrote that Baptiste’s counsel, Donald LaRoche, failed to “meaningfully review the discovery provided by the Government — in the form of documents, audio and video recordings, and transcripts of those recordings — prior to trial,” in the process failing to identify “material that would have supported … potential defenses.”
She also noted that LaRoche acknowledged at a January hearing that Baptiste’s trial was his “first actual full-blown trial.”
“LaRoche’s lack of preparation impeded his ability to diligently defend his client,”
Burroughs concluded.
Marx argued that his client “should never have been prosecuted in the first place” because, he said, Baptiste “only sought to encourage development in a poor country that he cares deeply about.”
Baptiste has been a frequent visitor to Haiti and is one of its diaspora’s most influential voices, according to an article in the Miami Herald, and hosted U.S. lawmakers and Haitian prime ministers at his home in Fulton, in southern Howard County.
“If the prosecution insists on trying him again, Dr. Baptiste looks forward to demonstrating his innocence,” attorney William Fick added.
Court officials are to meet with prosecutors and defense attorneys to set a new trial date.
A federal judge on March 12 granted Dr.
John Baptiste, 67, of Fulton, a longtime advocate for Haitian causes in the United States, a new trial on the grounds of deficient counsel in his 2019 trial in Boston.
Baptiste, the founder and chairman of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians, a Silver Springbased nonprofit, and Roger Richard Boncy, a dual U.S.-Haitian citizen who lives in Spain, also petitioned the court for acquittal on the same grounds, but U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs denied that request.
“Dr. Baptiste is grateful that Judge Burroughs recognized he did not get a fair trial and ordered a new one,” said Daniel Marx, his attorney.
Marx’s firm, Fick & Marx of Boston, entered the case on Baptiste’s behalf after the initial verdict, which was delivered in June.
A federal grand jury in 2018 charged Baptiste and Boncy with conspiring to violate the Travel Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with an $84 million port development project they were trying to arrange in Mole-Saint- Nicolas in northwestern Haiti.
The proposed project was to involve the construction of cement factories, a shipping-vessel recycling station, an international transshipment station, a power plant and tourist facilities, according to a report filed by the U.S. Department of Justice at the time.
Federal prosecutors alleged at the men’s two-week trial that they had conspired to pay millions of dollars in bribes to Haitian officials to do business there, and they played for jurors recordings of the men telling undercover FBI agents that they would funnel the agents’ payments to senior Haitian officials through Baptiste’s nonprofit, commonly known as NOAH, an organization that is designed to help impoverished Haitians.
The jury convicted the men on charges of violating the Travel Act, which makes it a federal offense to travel between nations with the intent of promoting an illegal activity, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal for Americans or American companies to pay foreign officials to win business.
Baptiste, a retired U.S. Army colonel and practicing dentist who had used NOAH to channel aid to Haitians at moments of crisis, including in the aftermath of the earthquake that devastated the island nation in 2010, faced a possible 20 years in prison and $500,000 fine.
In her 16-page memorandum on her ruling, Burroughs wrote that Baptiste’s counsel, Donald LaRoche, failed to “meaningfully review the discovery provided by the Government — in the form of documents, audio and video recordings, and transcripts of those recordings — prior to trial,” in the process failing to identify “material that would have supported … potential defenses.”
She also noted that LaRoche acknowledged at a January hearing that Baptiste’s trial was his “first actual full-blown trial.”
“LaRoche’s lack of preparation impeded his ability to diligently defend his client,”
Burroughs concluded.
Marx argued that his client “should never have been prosecuted in the first place” because, he said, Baptiste “only sought to encourage development in a poor country that he cares deeply about.”
Baptiste has been a frequent visitor to Haiti and is one of its diaspora’s most influential voices, according to an article in the Miami Herald, and hosted U.S. lawmakers and Haitian prime ministers at his home in Fulton, in southern Howard County.
“If the prosecution insists on trying him again, Dr. Baptiste looks forward to demonstrating his innocence,” attorney William Fick added.
Court officials are to meet with prosecutors and defense attorneys to set a new trial date.