The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Whoops
Today the Eleventh Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a sentence meted out by Judge Donald Graham in United States v. Aguirre-Lopez. One of the issues raised by Aguirre-Lopez was that the 11th Circuit should wait until the Supreme Court decided Rita before issuing an opinion. The 11th Circuit said that wasn't necessary -- it need not wait on the High Court to issue an opinion in Rita because it wouldn't affect the outcome. Fair enough..... except one thing: the Supreme Court decided Rita last Thursday and Aguirre Lopez came out today. WHOOPS!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Go, Dore, Go!
One of my daughter's favorite TV shows is Go, Diego, Go!
Now we have a new blog feature: Go, Dore, Go! We'll track the fun quotes from Marshall Dore Louis during the Padilla trial (previous quotes here and here). Louis is second chair to Bill Swor, who represents Padilla co-defendant Kifah Wael Jayyousi.
The latest from today's Miami Herald:
''These gentlemen are not accused of conspiring to kill Americans,'' said Jayyousi's attorney, Marshall Dore Louis. ``It just inflames the jury against bin Laden more than they already are.''
Monday, June 25, 2007
They love Osama
That's the prosecution theme in the Jose Padilla trial.
It started in opening. And it continued yesterday with the government calling al Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna. This is all leading up to the government playing a CNN interview with Osama bin Laden, which Judge Cooke already has said portions can be played.
So can this evidence link any of the defendants to any al Qaeda attacks? According to Jay Weaver:
None of the evidence presented in the Miami trial links the three men to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or any other alleged al Qaeda attacks during the previous decade.
It's not even clear to me why this expert or the CNN tape is relevant to the charges in this trial. The CNN tape is relevant, the government says, because two of the defendants (not Padilla) watched it and discussed it. Hmmmm. Think about that for a second. You better start thinking about the shows you watch or the websites you visit.
As for Padilla's argument that he only was captured on tape a couple of times, here's Curt Anderson describing the re-direct of the government's case agent:
On Monday, he also said Padilla likely spoke with Hassoun on many more occasions than the seven substantive telephone intercepts on which his voice appears. They met at a mosque in Florida, Kavanaugh said, and also used letters and human couriers to communicate.
Huh? "Likely"? What does that mean? Where's the actual proof? Isn't that what the tapes are for? They recorded hundreds of thousands of calls, but they "likely" spoke on other occassions not captured?
But they loved Osama.
For me, the real controversy is how to spell al Qaeda (Miami Herald spelling). Or is it al Qaida (AP spelling). Blogger doesn't like either spelling.
It started in opening. And it continued yesterday with the government calling al Qaeda expert Rohan Gunaratna. This is all leading up to the government playing a CNN interview with Osama bin Laden, which Judge Cooke already has said portions can be played.
So can this evidence link any of the defendants to any al Qaeda attacks? According to Jay Weaver:
None of the evidence presented in the Miami trial links the three men to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or any other alleged al Qaeda attacks during the previous decade.
It's not even clear to me why this expert or the CNN tape is relevant to the charges in this trial. The CNN tape is relevant, the government says, because two of the defendants (not Padilla) watched it and discussed it. Hmmmm. Think about that for a second. You better start thinking about the shows you watch or the websites you visit.
As for Padilla's argument that he only was captured on tape a couple of times, here's Curt Anderson describing the re-direct of the government's case agent:
On Monday, he also said Padilla likely spoke with Hassoun on many more occasions than the seven substantive telephone intercepts on which his voice appears. They met at a mosque in Florida, Kavanaugh said, and also used letters and human couriers to communicate.
Huh? "Likely"? What does that mean? Where's the actual proof? Isn't that what the tapes are for? They recorded hundreds of thousands of calls, but they "likely" spoke on other occassions not captured?
But they loved Osama.
For me, the real controversy is how to spell al Qaeda (Miami Herald spelling). Or is it al Qaida (AP spelling). Blogger doesn't like either spelling.
Monday Morning...
Monday morning has me swamped....
So, if you are interested in the big Supreme Court decisions that came out today (including the Bong Hits for Jesus case), check out Scotusblog.com.
If you are interested in reading a great legal blog, check out the WSJ blog.
If you want fun legal gossip, check out Abovethelaw.com
And if you want some law and some other interesting stuff all mixed together, check out Althouse.
And there's always Rumpole for our state court updates.
Will get back to SDFLA news as soon as I can.
So, if you are interested in the big Supreme Court decisions that came out today (including the Bong Hits for Jesus case), check out Scotusblog.com.
If you are interested in reading a great legal blog, check out the WSJ blog.
If you want fun legal gossip, check out Abovethelaw.com
And if you want some law and some other interesting stuff all mixed together, check out Althouse.
And there's always Rumpole for our state court updates.
Will get back to SDFLA news as soon as I can.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
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.
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.
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