Denver, CO -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/04/2018 --Hundreds of minority constituents from Colorado say when they brought overwhelming credible evidence to Senator Michael Bennet that the Colorado U.S. Attorney's Office and federal judge Christine M. Arguello engaged in misconduct resulting in the wrongful imprisonment of five (originally six) technology executives from Colorado Springs known as the "IRP6", he repeatedly stonewalled them, even telling dozens of African-Americans on one occasion that they were not his constituents.

Family, friends and parishioners from the IRP6's church, many of whom were African-Americans, say they were hurt and disappointed when, after holding a March 15, 2013 protest at the Denver federal courthouse, they went to Senator Bennet's office for help and he wouldn't come outside to talk to them. Instead, Senator Bennet sent his chief of staff outside to tell them they were not his constituents.

The IRP6 case (District of Colo. no. 09-cr-00266-CMA) concerns five (4 black, one white) wrongly-convicted and imprisoned software executives of the IRP Solutions Corporation who developed "Case Investigative Life Cycle (CILC)" criminal investigations software that was targeted by the Department of Homeland Security and DOJ to modernize the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement case management system after 9/11. In an effort to gain business from DHS and the NYPD who showed great interest in CILC and praised its capabilities, the IRP execs, agreed to make modifications to CILC (pronounced "silk") and contracted the services of staffing companies who reviewed the potential of the CILC software, conducted credit checks and agreed to provide temporary labor to IRP Solutions to help with the modifications. After a year and a half of demonstrations, modifications and a $100 million-dollar quote provided to DHS at their request, the FBI raided IRP Solutions with a search warrant affidavit that falsely stated that IRP Solutions was a "purported" software development company and spent 11 hours imaging every computer in their building. The raid destroyed IRP's ability to complete a sale, generate revenue and pay its debts. The government falsely claimed the execs never intended to pay, CILC didn't exist and that staffing companies were duped into signing their own staffing services contracts.

Many more details of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct from the grand jury and trial were publicized by a former federal appeals judge and by advocacy organization A Just Cause and was recently provided to Senator Bennet in the form of a dossier (published online at http://bit.ly/2wBaCyJ) and he still is unwilling to meet with the families or A Just Cause.

According to advocacy organization A Just Cause, Senator Bennet continues to this day ignoring his constituents even after learning that retired federal appeals judge H. Lee Sarokin told the Washington Post that the IRP6's constitutional rights were violated, and they were wrongly convicted for failing to pay corporate debts. Sarokin, who retired from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals immersed himself into the facts of the case and reviewed trial records after a critical portion of the transcript mysteriously disappeared where Judge Arguello was alleged to have intentionally violated the defendants' constitutional rights. Judge Sarokin was so troubled by the injustice and how the case was mishandled, he sent letters to the DOJ and blogged about the case on the Huffington Post where he is a contributor.

In his Huffington Post blog, Sarokin said that trial transcripts show that Judge Arguello, indeed, had violated the IRP6 defendants 5th Amendment rights. Sarokin became convinced that the men were innocent, and that race may have played a part in their conviction. "What amazed me about the case," Sarokin told the Post, "was the theory of the government, that this program they were developing was a scam. "All the proof in the case goes the other way."

Politicians and judges across the political spectrum have acknowledged that implicit racial bias exists in the American criminal justice system and the subject has been a part of recent Senate confirmation hearings for federal judges. Judge Sarokin discussed in that the unduly harsh sentences of 7 to 11 years given to the IRP6 may also have been racially-motivated. "I don't know if race played a part. But if you put all the connections together, I don't know that there's any other conclusion," Sarokin said in his Post interview. To raise public awareness about the IRP6 injustice, Sarokin, who is a playwright in his retire, wrote a short dramatic play called "The Race Card Face Up" where professional actors portraying the IRP6 bring to life the facts in the case, including the suspicious disappearance of a critical portion of the court transcript. The play can be seen online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y94O5mMJqHU

"Senator Bennet has not shown any compassion, sympathy or empathy to these Colorado families who have suffered the wrongful loss of their loved ones to prison, nor has he shown any outrage for intentional violations of the law and the Constitution by federal prosecutors or the judiciary," says Lamont Banks, Executive Director of A Just Cause. "When families in Colorado have been damaged and are hurting from government abuse, they expect Senator Bennet to demand answers from the DOJ," adds Banks. "The dossier (http://bit.ly/2wBaCyJ) which includes Judge Sarokin's article in the Washington Post and his blogs, leaves no doubt about the prosecutorial and judicial misconduct," says Banks. "Unfortunately, Senator Bennet doesn't appear interested in reading the dossier or supporting minority constituents in Colorado which is why they sought help outside of Colorado," says Banks.

In November 2017, four members of Congress read the dossier, sympathized with the plight of Colorado families and sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for answers about the allegations of misconduct. A Just Cause provided the letter to Senator Bennet but he has been unwilling to sign on or send a personal letter to the DOJ. The DOJ has yet to respond to letter. The IRP5 (David A. Banks, David A. Zirpolo, Demetrius K. Harper, Clinton A. Stewart and Kendrick Barnes) have been in prison for over five and a half years and counting for a crime they didn't commit based on a trial rife with misconduct and constitutional violations. "As a member of the U.S. Senate who has oversight of the DOJ and the federal courts, Senator Bennet has an obligation to his constituents and society as a whole to demand answers when federal justice officials engage in misconduct that result in a Coloradan's wrongful loss of liberty," exclaims Banks.

"We live in a nation in which liberty is cherished second to only life itself. Society commits no greater wrong than to convict and confine (or execute) one who may be innocent of the crimes with which he or she has been charged." H. Lee Sarokin, 1989