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Plaza did not cooperate; in fact, he resisted; and at the end almost obstructed the investigation. He may well have believed that he was sincere in his concern for defendants' rights. Had the opportunity to prosecute been his, however, one wonders if he, too, might not have put more faith in the adversary system and left it to defense counsel: to .raise some of the due process questions that he and Weir so diligently pursued in an apparent attempt to divert Abscam's momentum from Senator Williams. When Plaza appeared in court on the due process. hearing, he turned over to defense counsel a complete file of confidential government memoranda that he had collected from the New Jersey office, and he did this even though- he had been specifically instructed by a superior in the justice department not to do. so absent a specific direction by the court. At the time, he gave no warning to the court of the confidential nature of the documents he was producing. . It was only through prompt and candid warning from.one of defense counsel that the court was alerted to the implica- tions of Plaza's precipitous action. Plaza and Weir also took it upon themselves to complain to their superiors in Washington, with copies to all of the judges assigned to the various Abscam cases, that the government prosecutors were wilfully withholding Brady material from defense coun-sel. Although all of semmcirienes cone, semenctomm ete Snare t ynenamntar ' ¥ x re peer et peeeremes A RET E e w oe eeeittngngeebe att te mg fe Semmes ae ne enasienaeieeenamedimedaicnialimediel