Should we be going bench more often?

The stats certainly say yes -- there are more federal bench acquittals than jury acquittals on a percentage basis. But the conventional wisdom is to go jury...

In any event, yesterday, Judge Moore said not guilty as the finder of fact in a visa fraud case. AFPDs Vanessa Chen and Helaine Batoff decided to go bench before Judge Moore and after he denied the Rule 29, he said that as the finder of fact he found the defendant not guilty.

Trial dogs...

There isn't a better District to be a lawyer (or to be a blogger!) -- we've got the most interesting cases and the most trials. Jose Padilla starts Monday and I've been writing a bunch about that. But right now, there are two other very high profile trials proceeding.

The first is the Kenneth Wilk cop-killing death penalty trial before Judge Cohn. From reading the coverage (Vanessa Blum is covering it almost every day -- here's the latest article -- and here is Nikki Waller's coverage), it looks to me like the defense may need to focus on saving this man's life instead of going for the NG. It's a very difficult decision in a DP case -- do you go full guns blazing for the NG and perhaps alienate the jury or do you try to keep the jury sympathetic enough to your client so that they don't want to kill him. I've never done a death penalty case before (unlike Wilk's very experienced DP lawyer Bill Matthewman) so thankfully I haven't had to make that crazy hard decision.

Then we've also got the Gustavo Dominguez, sports agent smuggling case going on in Key West before Judge Moore. The Defendant has taken the stand (according to today's Herald). There is no better drama than that. It's also the most difficult decision a defense lawyer makes in any trial. Apparently the defense is that Dominguez paid the drug smuggling convict $225K not to help smuggle but because he was afraid for his and his family's life. If the jury believes him, he'll walk. If they don't, bye bye. Forget about reasonable doubt when the Defendant testifies.

Where else can you get this kind of great stuff?

"Judge rules high school club can meet pending outcome of lawsuit"

That's the CNN headline about Judge Moore's ruling:

A high school club that promotes tolerance of gays must be allowed to meet while a lawsuit is pending, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ruled Friday that Okeechobee High School must grant the same privileges to the Gay-Straight Alliance that it grants other clubs, as mandated by the federal Equal Access Act.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Okeechobee school board in November on behalf of the high school's Gay-Straight Alliance after school officials said the group was a "sex-based" organization that would violate its abstinence-only education policy.

In his 12-page ruling, Moore wrote that the group and its founder, high school senior Yasmin Gonzalez, have "demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success" on their claim that the school violated federal law when it prohibited the club from meeting.

News and Notes

Julie Kay writes today about Judge Moore's preclusion of the wet-foot, dry-foot defense in the baseball player smuggling case. Here's Judge Moore's order.

Jay Weaver discussed more discovery in Padilla here: " reputed al Qaeda member told U.S. authorities that the terror network scrutinized Jose Padilla as a recruit for Islamic extremism in 2000-01, according to a new document filed in federal court in Miami." And you can view the document discussed.

And to complete our federal court reporter trio, Vanessa Blum discusses the Hollywood cop hearing yesterday, in which Judge Seltzer granted the parties' request for extra time to resolve the matter before arraignment.

No Pinch Hitters?

Julie Kay has an article in today's DBR about the Gus Dominguez trial. Judge Moore had refused to grant a continuance in the past. This time, he granted the government's request for a continuance, but he was not happy about it. Apparently the government threatened to dismiss the entire indictment if the continuance wasn't granted. Both sides have reason to be upset -- the defense prepared for trial, made reservations for hotels in the Keys, flew in witnesses and so on because this was a firm trial date. The prosecution is rightfully upset because the lead prosecutor has been ill and in the hospital, which is, of course, good cause to continue the case. What a mess....

And here's the pitch...

The DBR covers (here) the upcoming trial of sports agent Gustavo Dominguez, which is scheduled to begin in front of Judge Moore in Key West on January 16. "Federal prosecutors have indicated they will call Seattle Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and Chicago Cubs catcher Henry Blanco to testify, according to Miami attorney Susan Dmitrovsky, who represents Dominguez. However, the government may have some difficulty in getting the players to testify as many players, including Blanco, are out of the country playing winter ball in South America, Dmitrovsky said." Also alleged: "Co-defendant Hernandez smuggled the wife and daughters of Chicago White Sox pitcher Jose Contreras into the country, and that Hernandez was taped by a cooperating witness admitting doing so. Prosecutors are not alleging that Contreras, who earned $9.6 million in 2006, was smuggled into the country. He is not expected to testify at the trial."

The case is being prosecuted by Ben Daniel and Nathaniel Mandel.

Betancourt's stats can be seen here.
Blanco's here.
Contreras's here.