Trial stats

The commenters were correct that I posted the wrong link concerning the number of trials in this District. Thanks to a helpful reader, here is the correct link for the total trials in this District and the rest of the country. The conclusion in the prior post -- that we try more cases in this District than any other -- is still correct.

Weekend reading

1. Ben Kuehne. The feds decided to drop the obstruction count, but added a wire fraud count:

Federal prosecutors have added and subtracted charges in the money-laundering indictment brought against prominent Miami attorney Ben Kuehne and two others.
In a superseding indictment filed Friday, the Justice Department added a wire-fraud conspiracy count but dropped an obstruction of justice charge.

2. Trials. in 2007, the SDFLA had 155 trials, more than any other district, followed by SDNY (108), MDFL (108), SDTX(106) and WDTX(105). In fact, we had more trials than the entire 1st Circuit, and almost as many as the 3rd and 10th Circuits.

3. Libery City 7. Vanessa Blum examines why the government is having so much trouble in this case -- perhaps it was because they arrested too early:

The failure of federal prosecutors to convict any members of an alleged South Florida terror cell after two trials highlights the obstacles in a legal strategy of arresting terror suspects before they strike.That approach, known as preemption, has been the Justice Department's mandate since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, drove home the potentially lethal consequences of not acting soon enough to stop terrorism.But moving too quickly may have doomed the so-called Liberty City 7 case by leaving prosecutors without sufficient evidence to back up their sensational allegations that the men wanted to launch a ground war against the U.S. government.Violent rhetoric caught on tape from the group's leader and a grainy video of the defendants swearing an oath of allegiance to al-Qaida have not been enough to convince jurors the men were conspiring to join forces with the terror group and not, as defense lawyers argued, simply playing along in a scheme for money.

4. There is a white collar seminar in the Middle District coming up with some impressive speakers.

Jose Padilla trial to start

The lawyers about to start trying the Jose Padilla case must have that nervous stomach feeling that all trial lawyers get the night before... There's nothing like a criminal trial. The stakes are as high as they can be. The pressure is through the roof. Nothing in the law is more exciting and exhilarating... And the biggest trial in the Nation starts tomorrow in Miami. United States of America v. Jose Padilla. Start your engines.

Our local beat is of course all over the start of the Jose Padilla trial.

"Padilla terror trial is ready to unfold; After five years in detention, Jose Padilla will finally have his day in court as jury selection begins Monday in a high-profile terrorism trial in Miami": This article appears today in The Miami Herald.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports today that "5 years later, Padilla terror case closer to trial."

And The Associated Press reports that "Padilla Jury Selection Opening."

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?