Federal Criminal Defense Blog : Georgia Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Gillen Withers & Lake Law Firm : White Collar Crime, RICO, Trial : Atlanta, Savannah, GA

Not Guilty Verdicts in W.R. Grace Case

Not a lot happening locally in the federal criminal defense sphere, so we’ll reach out to Montana to report a resounding victory for the defense by way of not guilty verdicts for all remaining defendants in the W.R. Grace case. The University of Montana has this exceptional blog here that has been reporting on this case throughout everyday of trial. The jury deliberated only one full day before returning the not guilty verdicts yesterday for not only the corporate defendant, W.R. Grace, but also the three remaining individual defendants, all former W.R. Grace executives at the Libby, Montana plant (note this cite is, apparently down right now). The AP story is here.

Prominent Arkansas Attorney Under Investigation in New York

The Wall Street Journal law blog reports that a prominent Arkansas plaintiff’s attorney, Gene Cauley, is unable to account for $9 million in settlement funds from a civil securities case. Southern District of New York, District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, who is known to this blogger for some exceptionally well written sentencing orders, requested that the United States Attorneys Office investigate because according to the transcript, Judge Rakoff said, “it appears not unlikely from the little information available to me that Mr. Cauley may have committed a crime or several crimes, that he may have committed disbarrable conduct in one or many ways.” Cauley, who was represented by counsel, who invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege against self incrimination, hopes to have the missing $9 million available shortly. A representative from the U.S. Attorneys Office attended the hearing. No doubt, more to come shortly.

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I haven’t really weighed in on the issue of whether an independent investigation (the law providing for the appointment of an independent counsel passed by the wayside several years ago) should be initiated for the purpose of determining whether the attorneys (and others) in the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel who drafted the torture memos should be prosecuted. There have been several thoughtful pieces on this issue this week, including over at the Letter of Apology blog, which effectively cabins the issues and makes a powerful argument regarding the need for a fair view of the facts regarding whether laws were broken in the penning of the memos authorizing torture.

As Professor Podgor correctly points out, the current case against Ben Kuehne in the Southern District of Florida is premised on his giving of legal advice regarding the propriety of Roy Black’s receipt of attorneys fees in a rather large drug cartel case. So, do folks get prosecuted for giving legal advice - absolutely. Just two weeks ago, Helio Castroneves’ lawyer was found not guilty in a trial in Miami.

However, here, President Obama can make a decision that he thinks is best for the country - and that is to move forward. As much as I truly despise our former Vice President and as much as I think Judge Bybee isn’t fit to be a judge anywhere in this nation - prosecuting these folks would be a step backward. After all, Speaker Pelosi was, the Washington Post reports, informed of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” being used. Now she says that she thought waterboarding was just being considered, not "used." Pitiful really.

We as a nation do not need sunshine patriots. We need good folks willing to stand for what is right, even when it is not popular to do so, or even when there is a political risk to do so. Everyone can swim downstream. I think the President's decision here is the right one, and the more difficult one to make.

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What better first name can an enigmatic figure related to the Dickie Scruggs scandal have than “P.L.” Tom Freeland over at the Northern Mississippi Commentor blog, here, tells us that P.L. Blake has retained his services in the continuing federal investigation in the Northern District of Mississippi. Interestingly, Tom, who runs an exceptionally well informed blog, had reported earlier this Spring that Blake was a target of the federal investigation. As detailed earlier, Blake, a former Mississippi delta farmer now living in Birmingham, was paid $50 million by former tobacco litigation millionaire Scruggs for clipping newspapers and assessing policital activity. The hiring of local counsel by Blake indicates that things are heating up and that an indictment may be reasonably imminent.

Interestingly, Tom reported earlier this week that Scruggs’ San Francisco attorney, John Keker, was in Oxford Mississippi this week. Tying Blake into the underlying case of Scruggs I - the attempted bribery of Judge Lackey - would seem to be problematic. Complicating the scenario for the government, Scruggs has already testified in civil depositions about Blake’s involvement in the tobacco litigation, but, call me crazy, it seems like $50 million is a lot to pay for someone to keep their proverbial ear to the ground and clip a few newspapers. This one should be interesting.

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U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said on Thursday that more charges are expected in the continuing investigation of inmate abuse at the Fulton County Jail. On Thursday, two lieutenants, Lt. Earl Glenn and Lt. Robert Hill, pleaded innocent to federal charges of using excessive force and lying to FBI agents investigating the case.

Nahmias has taken an unusual interest in this case, announcing last month the initial arrest of Curtis Jerome Brown, on civil rights, obstruction and false statement charges.

Last week Nahmias said that more charges were expected in the investigation of inmate abuse.

Judge Shoob has monitored conditions at the jail following a lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates accusing the jail of overcrowding and dangerous conditions.

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