Justice and the E.F. Hutton Case

Anent Assistant Atty. Gen. Stephen S. Trott’s letter (May 18) claiming that “justice was done” in the E.F. Hutton fraud case, let him peddle that hokum to his boss, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, whose sense of justice, as we recently saw, is no doubt as finely honed as Trott’s.

One of Trott’s reasons for refusing to prosecute individuals reveals his contempt for the American public as well as his distrust of our jury system. “This scheme was so complex that most of the banks did not even realize they had been victimized,” Trott wrote. “Presenting it to a jury would not have been without problems.” Which is to say, what’s the point of smart lawyers working hard to make a case if it’s odds on that a jury will be too stupid to understand it?

Since Trott spared himself that futile task, perhaps he will be willing to explain to all the petty thieves serving time why they’re in and the perpetrators of the E.F. Hutton fraud are out enjoying their usual white-collar lives.

Having so neatly disposed of the E.F. Hutton matter, Trott, we must assume, is now busily preparing a letter that will explain how altering time cards and creating fake ones at a defense plant appears fraudulent only to the untutored mind.

RICHARD ABCARIAN

Santa Monica