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

Yesterday, Dwayne Lequire, a former accountant at an insurance firm run by former Republican U.S. Representative for Arizona Rick Renzi was sentenced to three years probation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, according to KTAR.com.

Representative Renzi represented Arizona's 1st Congressional District until declining to seek re-election in 2008. He is alleged to have siphoned off approximately $400,000 from his family insurance business based in Sierra Vista, Arizona, to finance his Congressional campaign. He was indicted in a 47 count indictment relating to the insurance conduct and to a land swap which was unsealed in February of 2008. Last year, the trial court suppressed the wiretap evidence gathered against Representative Renzi, holding that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and federal prosecutors ``conducted an unreasonable wholesale interception of calls they knew to be attorney-client communications.'' Representative Renzi has challenged the indictment in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the criminal proceedings are on hold pending the appeal.

Lequire was convicted in July on eight counts of embezzlement. He was alleged to have diverted customers' insurance premiums to Representative Renzi. Lequire did not benefit from the activity, however.

Another associate of Representative Renzi, Andrew Beardall of Rockville, Maryland, was charged with conspiracy and two counts of insurance fraud for allegedly helping Representative Renzi cover up the transfer, however Mr. Beardall was subsequently acquitted on all charges.

(Postscript: It is the Blog's understanding that Mr. Beardall has filed a Hyde Amendment petition following his acquittal and we wish him and his counsel success in their pursuit).

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A large portion of government searches and seizures today involve the seizure and search of electronic media and information. The manner in which such searches and seizures of electronic media and information are conducted can become critically important afterwards if criminal proceedings are instituted. Well on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs announced the publication of Electronic Crime Scene Investigation: An On-the-Scene Reference for First Responders by the National Institute of Justice, and may be viewed in its entirety on OJP's website. The publication is a guide for first responders responding to electronic crime scenes, and is a companion to an earlier publication, Electronic Crime Scene Investigation: A Guide for First Responders, Second Edition.

The publication is available as a "flip book" which agents may consult on-scene during investigations and searches. It describes the types of electronic devices, guidelines for securing and evaluating a scene, guidelines for packaging and transporting digital evidence, and special considerations for electronic and digital crime evidence by type of crime. The guide instructs investigators, among other things, to:

*Document, photograph and secure digital evidence.

*Not to alter any electronic device.

*To exclude unauthorized persons from the area where the evidence is being collected.

*To interview witnesses regarding the use and users of any computers or devices.

*To document various facts relating to the electronic devices, as well as to video, photograph or sketch the scene.

*Not to alter devices or attempt to explore them on the scene, or even to press a key or click a mouse.

The OJP publication may prove of great assistance to defense practitioners in attempting to suppress the fruits of searches and seizures of electronic information and media. Counsel should carefully review the facts of any search and seizure of such evidence and interview all witnesses to any search and seizure to ascertain whether these procedures have been followed.

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