Trials

I was supposed to start a month-long trial this week in West Palm Beach, but it got postponed till next Monday. Here are some stories about other trials that started this week:

1. Participant or just translator? Shahrazad Gholikhan started trial in front of Judge Cohn. She is charged with attempting to export night vision goggles to Iran. This was the case that originally pled out to credit time served, but the government moved to vacate the sentence saying it had made a mistake in the guidelines. Judge Cohn then resentenced her to 29 months. Then the defense moved to vacate the plea, saying that everyone had thought it was a CTS case. Judge Cohn agreed and here we are in trial. Vanessa Blum covers it here:

The strange legal odyssey that led an Iranian woman to surrender last year to face charges she tried to supply Iran with U.S.-made night vision goggles took another turn Tuesday with opening statements to jurors in Fort Lauderdale federal court.A prosecutor told jurors that Shahrazad Mir Gholikhan, 30, conspired with her former husband to illegally purchase thousands of military-grade night vision goggles and traveled to Vienna in 2004 to obtain a sample pair.Gholikhan's attorney countered that she went to Vienna without knowing her ex-husband's plan and served only as his translator.

2. The Venezuelan cash smuggling case started up before Judge Lenard. Here's Curt Anderson's take:

A wealthy Venezuelan businessman went on trial Tuesday on U.S. charges that he illegally acted as his government's agent in an elaborate scheme to conceal the source of $800,000 in political cash carried in a suitcase into Argentina.
Prosecutors say Franklin Duran, 40, was doing the bidding of Venezuela's intelligence service when he and others used promises of $2 million in cash and veiled threats of violence to make the cover-up work. The FBI taped dozens of conversations between Duran and his alleged cohorts on the telephone and in South Florida restaurants and coffee shops.
Jury selection began Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard, with the trial expected to take up to six weeks. Duran, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy and failing to register with the U.S. as a Venezuelan agent.
The purported cover-up involved a cash-stuffed suitcase brought into Argentina aboard a Venezuelan aircraft in August 2007 that prosecutors say was intended as a contribution for new Argentine President Cristina Fernandez. Both she and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have denounced the trial as politically motivated, but U.S. officials deny that.
Still, the case has further strained the already sour relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela. Duran's lawyer, Ed Shohat, has repeatedly insisted the trial is intended mainly to embarrass Chavez and his allies in Latin America and that Duran wasn't even aware of the registration law he is accused of violating.
"Our view is that this case is a political attack," Shohat said.

"Two defense lawyers can keep fees Feds claimed were tainted"

That's the headline in today's Justice Watch from Julie Kay.

"Miami attorneys Ed Shohat and Bruce Lehr got their best holiday present from federal prosecutors. The government decided to let them keep $757,000 in legal fees from their clients, convicted businessmen Eduardo and Hector Orlansky, which the government had previously argued were tainted. The deal, which was approved by the Department of Justice last week, also gives the government a gift. The Orlansky brothers agreed to forfeit to the government another $750,000 from the sale of a luxury Manhattan condominium. *** Negotiations between Shohat and Lehr and federal prosecutors went on for several months. The consent order approving the deal was signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Menchel and Shohat Dec. 28 and by the Orlanskys Dec. 29."

Now the fight turns to the oppressive guideline ranges:

"Meanwhile, Lehr has filed papers seeking a downward departure in sentencing for Hector Orlansky, based on, among other things, his client’s health. Orlansky, 61, has had cancer in his shoulders, colon and vocal chords; suffers from an inner ear disorder called Meniere’s disease; has high blood pressure and cholesterol; and suffers from depression and anxiety. In addition, Lehr argued, Hector Orlansky should get a lesser sentence because he had no criminal history prior to the fraud charges and was “well-respected in the fields of banking and finance.” If the pretrial probation office investigation is adopted by the court, Orlansky would spend a minimum of 151 to 188 months in prison, which would probably amount to the rest of his life. Shohat said he will file a downward departure request for Eduardo Orlansky soon. Judge Jordan has not set a sentencing date. Denied bond requests, the brothers are being held at Miami’s Federal Detention Center."

disclosure -- I'm quoted in the article.