Inmate requests release to assist in his appeal

[Zelda50]

Claiming he cannot assist in the preparation of his appeal, Robert C. Cordaro asked Senior U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo in a five-page handwritten motion to allow him to be released on bail.

Read the motion here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/48182083/Cordaroletter.pdf

As the July 21 appeal deadline for the former Lackawanna County commissioner approaches, Mr. Cordaro said he needs to get out of the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution to assist his attorney, Peter Goldberger of Ardmore, and participate in the preparation of the appeal. Writing in the third person, Mr. Cordaro says in the motion that his prison arrangements deny him access to email files which have the history of the case, limit access to his attorney and his case files.

His attorney, Mr. Cordaro wrote, in cursive, can't and won't visit him, won't do phone calls and is distrustful of prison mail system because letters can be monitored and read.

"Without the ability to go to attorney Goldberger's office … and access his email, electronic and paper files, defendant Cordaro will be severely prejudiced in his constitutional right to appeal his case," he wrote.

Link to rest of article:
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/in-...ison-1.1339928