The Federal criminal story of the week is the acquittal of former New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on two counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements and one count of obstructing Congress. The charges against Clemens arose from his testimony before Congress… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: trial
The Trial of Lance Emanuel Brown for the Defenestration of the Columbus Federal Courthouse
Posted in MiscellaneousAs reported in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia convicted Lance Emanuel Brown yesterday of malice mischief, for throwing a brick through the glass door of the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in Columbus, Georgia. Brown’s act of vandalism resulted in $1,400 worth of damage. Brown… Continue Reading
Atlanta Securities Lawyer Gregory Bartko Sentenced to 23 Years for Securities Fraud
Posted in Securities Fraud, SentencingImage source: www.gurneylawfirm.com/attorney-profile Gregory Bartko, a securities lawyer and Atlanta resident, was sentenced last Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to 23 years’ imprisonment for securities fraud, as reported in the Columbus, Indiana, Republic. Bartko was convicted in 2010 at the conclusion of a 13-day trial on six counts… Continue Reading
Public Officials Have Charges Thrown Out in the Wake of Operation “Bid Rig,” Allege that Sting Was Politically Motivated
Posted in Noteworthy CasesBack in July of 2009, we considered one of the largest political corruption sting operations in the nation’s history, FBI Operation "Bid Rig," which resulted in the arrest and charging of 44 individuals, primarily in New Jersey. Well, at least one of the individuals, former New Jersey State Assemblyman Louis Manzo, fought the charges, as… Continue Reading
The AP Report on Federal Sentencing
Posted in SentencingAs Professor Doug Berman notes over at his Sentencing Law and Policy blog, the AP reports that five years of federal sentencing data examined by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) (we recently cited this important resource), demonstrates that sentences for the same crimes in the same courthouse imposed by different judges varies sharply. The AP… Continue Reading
Four Executives Acquitted in Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fraud Case
Posted in AcquittalAs reported in the Miami Herald, four former executives for Vanguard Fire and Casualty Co. were acquitted yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee on charges that they allegedly defrauded the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund of $20 million. The charges arose from the 2004 hurricane season, one of the… Continue Reading
Alabama Legislators and Casino Employees to Be Re-Tried
Posted in Acquittal, Noteworthy CasesThe U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama has postponed the retrial of eight defendants on corruption charges relating to the gambling industry and various State legislators and employees, originally scheduled to commence on October 3, until January 9, 2012, according to Forbes.com. The charges stemmed from an FBI investigation into alleged… Continue Reading
Former Yankees Pitcher Roger Clemens Granted Mistrial in Prosecution for False Statements, Perjury and Obstruction
Posted in MistrialAs reported by ESPN (and virtually every other media outlet), United States District Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted former New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens’ request for a mistrial in his prosecution on three counts of making false statements, two counts of perjury, and one… Continue Reading
Charges of Misconduct on Both Sides of the Blagojevich Case
Posted in BlagosphereAllegations of misconduct are flying in the case of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. According to the Chicago Tribune, Blagojevich’s attorneys have accused the prosecution of misconduct during their investigation of the former Governor. Now the prosecution has struck back and charged that Blagojevich and his counsel lied. The jury deadlocked on 23 of 24… Continue Reading
LAPD Officer Acquitted on Weapons Export Charges
Posted in MiscellaneousIt is a rather slow news day, so the Blog would like to take the opportunity to note that, earlier this month, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California acquitted Los Angeles Police Department Officer Johnny Augustus Baltazar on charges of illegally exporting weapons and ammunition to the Central… Continue Reading
Bloate v. U.S.: Extensions of Time to File Pretrial Motions Not Automatically Excludable from Speedy Trial “Clock”
Posted in indictment, Speedy TrialThe United States Supreme Court has sped up the clock in criminal cases with consequences for how attorneys practicing federal criminal law will practice in the future. The Speedy Trial Act of 1974, 18 United States Code Section 3161 et seq., requires that the trial of a criminal defendant begin within 70 days of the… Continue Reading
Sir Robert Allen Stanford’s Congressional Ties and Prison Blues
Posted in High Profile CasesSo whatever happened to indicted billionaire Sir Robert Allen Stanford? Well, not much, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. Stanford, who is charged with allegedly defrauding investors of more than $7 billion, is still incarcerated, despite his extensive efforts to secure release prior to his trial since his arrest in June of last year. Stanford… Continue Reading
Prosecution of Bear Stearns Hedge Fund Managers Cioffi and Tannin Runs into Setbacks; Prosecution Seeks to Present Evidence of Uncharged Offenses
Posted in High Profile CasesThe trial of Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin continues in the Eastern District of New York. The Court has heard five days of testimony from government witnesses and admitted voluminous documents, mostly e-mail messages, as reported by Dan Slater of the New York Times. However, the case does not appear… Continue Reading
Sir Robert Allen Stanford Enters Not Guilty Plea to $7 Billion Fraud Charges/Court States Intention to Release Him on $500,000 Bond
Posted in High Profile CasesSir Robert Allen Stanford entered a plea of not guilty yesterday to the indictment charging him with alleged defrauding investors in a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy presided over the arraignment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston. Also yesterday, Stanford’s co-defendant and alleged co-conspirator, Leroy… Continue Reading
Syed Haris Ahmed Trial: Day 1
Posted in TerrorismThe trial of Syed Haris Ahmed is Georgia’s most significant terrorism case and we will collect for readers daily information on the trial and additional information. Today’s information on the Ahmed/Sadequee Trial comes from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WSBTV and CNN. Ahmed is 24, an Atlanta area native and a former student at Georgia Tech…. Continue Reading
Roy Black on the Castroneves Trial
Posted in High Profile CasesFamed Miami trial lawyer, Roy Black, comments on his recent success in the tax evasion trial of Helio Castroneves
Eleventh Circuit Reverses Former Alabama Gov. Seigelman’s Convictions for Honest Services Fraud, Otherwise Affirms Siegelman’s/Scrushy’s Convictions in Bribery/HealthSouth Case
Posted in High Profile CasesFormer Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy were convicted of federal funds bribery, honest services conspiracy, honest services mail fraud, racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, honest services wire fraud, obstruction of justice and extortion in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama back in 2006. Siegelman has alleged that his… Continue Reading
Summary of Eleventh Circuit Criminal Opinions, Week of March 9, 2009
Posted in Noteworthy CasesEvidence Sentencing
Wecht Fur Continues to Fly
Posted in AcquittalThe 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… Continue Reading