Sunday, February 15, 2009

''He said if I blamed it on him, he was going to turn it around on me."

That was Guillermo Zarabozo, the Joe Cool defendant, testifying on Friday. Here's a snippet of the Herald article:

''I told them what he told me to say,'' Zarabozo testified at the murder retrial in federal court in Miami. ``It was the biggest mistake of my life. I lied. That's why I'm here.''
Zarabozo, testifying after the government rested its case, admitted that he and Archer lied that Cuban ''pirates'' had hijacked the boat on their chartered one-way trip to Bimini and then killed the crew. Zarabozo is charged with 16 counts of conspiracy, hijacking, kidnapping, murder, robbery and use of a firearm in commission of those crimes.
Archer, 36, pleaded guilty before the first federal trial in September and was sentenced to life in prison -- Zarabozo's fate if he is convicted of any of the offenses.
Prosecutors will return on Tuesday to cross examine Zarabozo. It is expected to be an intense confrontation. They have argued that Zarabozo has been lying about his role in the murders.
But rather than try to prove conclusively that Zarabozo fatally shot the crew, prosecutors have unveiled newly discovered evidence showing that he and Archer plotted for months to hijack the chartered vessel to Cuba. The evidence supports the conspiracy charge and refutes Zarabozo's claim that he thought the boat was a charter to Bimini.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Topic for discussion:

Every time I watch the movie Office Space I am completely useless at work the next day. So, should I quit the practice of law and wander the Earth (live like a bum), or stop watching funny movies that also speak directly to the human condition?

Discuss (spoken in the accent of Linda Richman)...

Anonymous said...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anonymous said...

Great openings before judge gold.

Sean cronin for the government gave a marvelous opening; should have been videotaped and used to instruct new ausas.

David markus for the defense did as good an opening as I hav ever seen.

Both prosecutors and defense lawyers should stop in and watch the fine lawyering.