Posted on May 12, 2008 by Thomas Withers

Third Circuit Delays Wecht Retrial

In an Order issued Thursday, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has delayed the retrial of Dr. Cyril Wecht. By way of brief background, the jury in Wecht’s case (a case that I’ve previously stated needs to be canned by Main Justice) hung on all 41 counts against him.

Wecht’s counsel then filed a Motion to Dismiss based on Double Jeopardy grounds. The district court subsequently found that the attempt to delay a retrial on the basis of that claim would be frivolous and would not delay the retrial, jury selection for which was to start today. An immediate appeal followed, and the Third Circuit issued an Order putting the retrial on hold and setting a rather ambitious briefing schedule.

Raising a Double Jeopardy claim following the declaration of a hung jury is a reasonably dense legal issue, and I would be surprised if the Third Circuit can turn out its opinion within a month of the final brief, which is scheduled for May 20, 2008.

In the meantime, the trial judge has issued a deliberate and studious Order denying another motion to recuse.

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Posted on May 5, 2008 by Thomas Withers

Wecht Fur Continues to Fly

The fur continues to fly in the Wecht case in the run up to the retrial, currently scheduled for May, 27 2008. 

As I have previously stated in this blog, it is my hope that this blog will raise the standard of the criminal defense bar by posting pleadings that can be accessed and then used in one’s own practice. In that respect, the filings by Wecht’s counsel provide us with an excellent standard to emulate:

  •             The defense has recently filed a Motion to Dismiss for Prosecutorial Misconduct (the brief is available here), alleging that the investigating agent and the lead AUSA have committed prosecutorial misconduct which infected the search warrant affidavit and the trial by suggesting that the movement of certain evidence occurred on one day in an effort at concealment, when, in fact, it occurred on a different day, such that no concealment could have occurred. This post trial motions practice is of an exceptionally high quality and brings to light some very disturbing allegations related to the prosecution’s handling of this troubling case.
  •             The defense has Renewed its Motion for Verdict of Acquittal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29 alleging that the government failed to prove any misrepresentation or concealment. It is particularly interesting how interwoven these pleadings are because the Renewed Motion for Verdict of Acquittal ties in nicely with the prosecutorial misconduct motion and the government contention of concealment of evidence, which, is at the very least mistaken.  
  •             And, finally, the defense has raised a Double Jeopardy claim related to the manner in which the mistrial was declared (this is no doubt a long shot, but generally a litigant is entitled to a direct appeal from the denial of a double jeopardy claim), and now seeks to appeal the trial judge’s denial of that motion.

Wecht is being capabably represented. These pleadings provide all of us in the defense bar with exceptional post judgment guides.

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