News and notes

We have a jury in the Liberty City 7 case. Here's the AP story about the jury:

Opening statements start Tuesday.

Also Tuesday is the bond hearing in the ghost ship Joe Cool case. We'll find out a lot more about the government's case then. Federal defender's office represents one. The other - Allan Kaiser, former AUSA who was appointed.

District news

1. The Robles plea was accepted. Lots of news stories everywhere about it. There is a 15 year cap, instead of the 10 year cap previously agreed to by the parties. It will be interesting to see whether the government argues that a 10 year sentence is reasonable, notwithstanding the guidelines which I suspect will be a lot higher.

2. The Liberty City 7 case is underway. Again, lots of news stories about the jury selection and the start of the trial. Props to Judge Lenard for conducting a thorough voir dire. It looks like it will take a couple weeks to pick the jury in this case. That is appropriate considering the type of case it is and the press that has come with the case.

3. Last night Milton Hirsch had a constitution day party at his office. Here's the Joan Fleischman column about it. The office was packed with lawyers and judges. Federal judge sighting -- Judge Ungaro read the 15th Amendment, which states:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

I read the Fourth Amendment. Does anyone remember that one?

UPDATED -- Here's a picture of Judge Ungaro, Judge Alex, his daughter, and psychologist Merry Haber:

One down, one to go...

Even though it looks like the District is about to lose the high-profile Louis Robles trial, we still have one other huge one starting this week -- "the Miami 7" trial. Here's Vanessa Blum's article outlining the start of the case. And here's Jay Weaver's, and the AP.

This is the trial involving seven guys from Liberty City who spoke to undercover officers about blowing up the Sears Tower in Chicago and other buildings in Miami. The government has described that group as "more aspirational than operational." Will their words and actions in this case be enough for conviction? How will the Jose Padilla trial sit in jurors' minds? Stay tuned -- same bat time, same bat channel.

"Feds: Miami terror cell practiced with paintball"

That's the headline in this AP article about the Miami 7 from Liberty City who are charged with conspiring to blow up the Sears Tower. My favorite part of the article:

Some were clearly bewildered by what had happened to them. One of those arrested in June 2006 even asked the FBI agents interrogating him whether he could have some of the marijuana he had been carrying, according to the statements filed recently in federal court.

That defendant, 23-year-old Naudimar Herrera, asked for ''a rub of my green'' after the agents showed him a videotape of the group swearing loyalty to al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, at the direction of an FBI informant the men knew as Mohammed.

''Herrera said that he needed the substance to calm his nerves. . . . Herrera was provided with a bottle of water to drink and was allowed to take a restroom break,'' an FBI summary said.

Classic.

More discovery leaks in the Miami 7 case

This case -- this is the "terrorist" case about the 7 guys in Miami who discussed blowing up the Sears Tower in Chicago -- hasn't been in the news in a while. The last time it was, we were discussing leaks. Here we go again.

This time prosecutors made public the post-arrest statements of the defendants. And the defense lawyers are none too pleased. According to Vanessa Blum of the Sun-Sentinel:

Defense lawyers for Abraham and Augustin lashed out at prosecutors for publicly filing the statements from their clients, which they are trying to keep out of the trial.

A summary of statements themselves:

The man federal authorities accused of plotting with an al-Qaida operative to bomb the Chicago Sears Tower and government buildings in Miami told FBI agents he was trying to hustle a man he knew as Mohammed for money.At first Narseal Batiste, a Liberty City resident, denied ever discussing such attacks, according to notes from an interview conducted after his arrest exactly one year ago.

He changed his story after the agents played a videotape showing him and several accused associates reciting an oath of allegiance to al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden. The pledge was led by an informant working undercover for the FBI who called himself Mohammed and posed as an al-Qaida contact from Yemen."I can't believe I got these guys into this," Batiste said after watching the video, according to the FBI notes.