Defense criticizes scope of Capitol raid

WASHINGTON, May 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's attorney Tuesday said the FBI's raid of the Louisiana Democrat's Capitol Hill office released some unrelated confidential data.

Speaking in front of the three presiding judges in the Washington Court of Appeals Tuesday, Jefferson's attorney Robert Trout said the FBI's ensuing investigation after the 2006 raid included confidential legislative materials not pertinent to the case, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.

Trout said during the first day of the legal challenge of the controversial raid that the FBI's handling of such documents represented a serious leak.

"How do we know an FBI agent -- there were 15 agents over 18 hours -- didn't say, 'Hey Joe, get a load of this. This is really interesting,'" Trout said.

Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben denied such allegations, saying that investigators merely focused on documents related to their inquiry.

The Louisiana Democrat was being investigated as part of a corruption probe and the current Court of Appeals case will in part determine the constitutionality of the FBI's investigative raid.