Lawyer who defended drug kingpins…
(NEW YORK DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS)

A FLAMBOYANT lawyer who specialised in defending drug kingpins was convicted yesterday of plotting to kill witnesses.

Robert Simels sat back in his chair and looked furious as the Brooklyn Federal Court jury rendered a verdict that could send him to jail for life.

His associate, Arienne Irving, who was also convicted of conspiring to tamper with witnesses, laid her head on the defence table and sobbed.

Robert Simels

“They got it wrong,” her lawyer, Javier Solano, said outside the courtroom. “They got it wrong.”

Prosecutors immediately asked that Simels’ bail be revoked, saying he was flight risk. A hearing on that matter will be held this afternoon.

Jurors declined to discuss the verdict. They took seven days to reach a verdict and they sent the judge 45 notes with questions during deliberations.

A former state prosecutor who investigated corrupt cops and judges, Simels was convicted of tampering with eight witnesses against his then-client Shaheed (Roger) Khan, a major cocaine trafficker from Guyana.

Irving was convicted on two counts of witness tampering.

Simels and Khan were also convicted of possessing illegal eavesdropping equipment, which was seized in a raid on Simels’ East Side offices.

Simels skated on just one charge – lying to a federal prison guard.

Once a regular legal commentator on FOX News and CNN, Simels was done in by his big mouth. An informant secretly taped him discussing plans to “neutralize,” “eliminate” and “destroy” a government witness against Khan.

On the stand, Simels insisted the terms he used on the tape with the rat, Selwyn Vaughn, were legalese not to be taken literally.

“Selwyn Vaughn wasn’t a lawyer when you used that term, was he?” U.S. Attorney Steven D’Alesandro pointed out.

Simels explained that he spoke “street” with thugs like Vaughn, who was a member of Khan’s Guyanese gang.

“Guyana is a Third World country,” Simels added. “They sometimes speak in a very unappealing fashion, so I spoke down in a manner he would appreciate.”

At one point, Simels’ became so combative on the stand that Judge John Gleeson ordered the jury out of the courtroom and chided Simels.

“Your career is at stake, your liberty is at stake . . . but I’m not going to allow this to continue,” Gleeson said.

“I’m going to step on you in front of the jury, and it’s not going to help your case.”

Irving chose not to testify.