Former prosecutor files complaint against D.A.

A former city prosecutor has charged in a complaint to the state Supreme Court that the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office knowingly used a police officer as witness in an untold number of cases although he admitted committing perjury.

"Thousands of defendants were not afforded their proper due process rights," former Assistant District Attorney Andrew Justin Thomson said in his complaint dated Wednesday.

Thomson's complaint to the high court's Disciplinary Board alleged the District Attorney's Office allowed Officer Christopher Hulmes to testify for more than three years after he admitted in 2011 to a city judge that he perjured himself in a case he was involved with.

Last month, the D.A.'s Office filed charges of perjury against Hulmes, who has been suspended from the force pending firing.

Hulmes, 42, a 19-year veteran who was last assigned to the Narcotics Strike Force, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Brian J. McMonagle, has said Hulmes was trying to protect a source.

The Hulmes case has been an embarrassment for the District Attorney's Office since last August, when the Philadelphia City Paper published an article detailing Hulmes' 2011 admission in court that he had falsified an arrest warrant and falsely testified in court.

Thomson's complaint escalates that controversy.

Thomson, now in private practice, said in the complaint that in December 2013 he told two ranking prosecutors about Hulmes' perjury - Assistant District Attorney Angel Flores, chief of the East Division, and his deputy, Jacqueline McCauley - but they took no action. He took special aim at McCauley, saying her husband had been Hulmes' partner in the Police Department.

McCauley and Flores did not respond to requests for comment.

District Attorney Seth Williams' spokesman, Cameron Kline, said his office could not comment on personnel matters.

The complaint said the two prosecutors violated the rules governing the conduct of attorneys and called for the Disciplinary Board to take action against them.

"This is not how justice is supposed to work," it said. "The Rules of Professional Conduct are clear."

"The Disciplinary Board must hold ADA McCauley and Flores, and anyone else involved, accountable for their actions," it said.

The board is prohibited from discussing any investigations it undertakes after complaints are filed.

In an e-mail, Thomson said he filed the complaint because it was the right thing to do.

"While I have a lawyer . . . and have been encouraged to sue the city, my family and I have decided not to pursue anything at this time. We stand for justice and justice demands a thorough and independent investigation of the DA's Office," Thomson wrote.

The District Attorney's Office said Hulmes' arrest had sent in motion a process to review the officer's old cases. Prosecutors and public defenders will work together to decide which convictions must be overturned because of the officer's involvement. That task is expected to take months.

"We are deeply troubled by the perjury allegations against Officer Hulmes, as is the District Attorney's Office. . . . To its credit, the District Attorney's Office has" dismissed convictions involving perjured testimony, said Bradley S. Bridge of the Defender Association.

Hulmes, whose next court date is June 15, is also charged with tampering with public records, obstruction, making a false report, and related charges.

His lawyer, McMonagle, did not respond to a request for comment.