Jury gets marshal's case after emotional closing argument
FEDERAL COURT | Accused of leaks about mob witness
A tough-guy deputy marshal who has hunted violent criminals and captured infamous international fugitives was himself brought to tears Thursday in a federal courtroom.
The chiseled-faced Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose grew flushed and struggled to control his emotion as his lawyer, Frank Lipuma, talked about the emptiness Ambrose endured growing up without a dad after his father died in prison.
Ambrose grew close to a man who did time with his father, William Guide.
Now, Ambrose himself stands trial -- before the same judge who oversaw his father's police corruption case -- on charges of leaking secret information about a mob witness to Guide.
That information allegedly made its way to the mob.
In closing arguments, Lipuma said Ambrose looked to Guide as a father figure. Lipuma said Ambrose may have boasted about his job to Guide, but didn't leak sensitive information and didn't have criminal intent.
The jury began deliberations Thursday.
Ambrose's work with the marshals service usually involved scouring the land for fugitives. But on two occasions, once in 2002 and once in 2003, Ambrose was assigned to guard top mob informant Nicholas Calabrese as part of a special witness protection detail. He's accused of leaking to Guide information from a file he accessed and then lying about it to federal investigators.
Lipuma called the government's case "very weak," and an investigation "that has major holes in it."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said Ambrose's motivations for releasing the information to Guide were irrelevant.
"Any release of information causes harm," she said of closely guarded secrets within the witness protection program.
She said it was with sadness that the government brought the case.
"We are, in effect, prosecuting one of our own," she said.