"In 25 years on the bench I have never seen anything approach the mishandling and misconduct I have seen in this case."

That was Judge Emmet Sullivan today, ordering a probe into the Ted Stevens case. Here's the AP. The coverage of the case is worth a read. From the article:

During Tuesday's hearing, Sullivan read a primer on criminal procedure, the kind of rudimentary lecture students normally receive during their first year of law school.
The judge said he has seen a troubling trend of prosecutors withholding evidence in cases against people ranging from Guantanamo Bay detainees to public officials such as Stevens. He called on judges nationwide to issue formal orders in all criminal cases requiring that prosecutors turn over evidence to defendants.
It was a stinging rebuke of the Justice Department and Sullivan called on Holder to order training for all prosecutors.

In (misconduct) news closer to home, a large internet pharmacy case was dismissed in Judge Zloch's courtroom today. You remember this one -- it's the Google jury... Here's coverage by the Health Care Fraud Blog:

In a stunning development with implications in two large prosecutions, the United States dismissed with prejudice an Indictment against 10 individuals today in a South Florida courtroom, two of whom had already plead guilty and testified in the trial against the other eight defendants. This follows an eight week trial featuring two mistrials, one based on prosecutorial misconduct and also included accusations against the government of witness tampering and the testimony of a federal prosecutor to attempt to refute the testimony that the government gave permission for one of the defendants to operate his business.

Bad times for lawyers

The Herald's business section has a long piece on how the tough economy is affecting lawyers. And Julie Kay makes a special guest appearance here. (UPDATE -- Julie wrote the long piece as well, but they cut her name out of the byline!). One of the recruiters quoted in the article has this happy thought for lawyers who have been laid off: "Think about learning a new practice area or even a new career."


In other news, Jay Weaver has the latest on the Helio Castroneves case. Here's a small part of the article and the necessary picture:

Castroneves' lawyers maintain he owes no taxes on the Coimex earnings because the payments were made to his father, who lives in Brazil and once supported his son's career. As for the racer's Penske income, the money went to a Dutch annuity account -- income that Castroneves will start receiving next month, when he intends to pay his taxes.
The prosecution's portrayal of Castroneves as a chiseler could undercut his charismatic profile -- he's also known for winning the Dancing With the Stars reality TV show -- in the eyes of 12 federal jurors. As his trial wraps up this week, they will soon decide the fate of Castroneves, 33, his sister/manager, Katiucia Castroneves, 35, and his attorney, Alan R. Miller, 71, of Michigan.
They're charged with conspiring to evade paying taxes on $5.5 million in income between 1999 and 2004. If convicted, they could each face five to 10 years in prison.
Such an outcome would crush the racing star's career.
Whatever their decision, the jurors' verdict will come just after the start of the IndyCar Racing season, which got under way Sunday with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg -- a race that Castroneves won in 2006 and 2007. For this season, Penske has replaced Castroneves, a two-time Indy 500 winner, with Will Power.

"He left behind a watch collection that Prince Charles would be envious of."

Mike Tein has gotta be the most quotable lawyer in the District. The watch collection belongs to Won Sok Lee. The Palm Beach Post has the story:

After four years as a fugitive, alleged hedge fund swindler Won Sok Lee was in U.S. District Court on Friday morning; having been arrested in his native Korea in February as he tried to board a plane to Argentina.
Lee faces more than 30 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in connection with KL Financial Group, which swindled wealthy Palm Beach residents out of almost $200 million.

Tein was the receiver in the KL case.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple of you have emailed me the story about the federal lawsuit by ASA David Ranck against State Attorney Kathy Rundle. The Herald had an editorial about the case here. And Jay Weaver has been covering the case -- here's a snippet from the latest article:

The original prosecutor on the case, David Ranck, had similar misgivings about Espinosa's shooting of the teen. Ranck was taken off the case by Fernández Rundle after he told the Miami-Dade lead detective it was "not a good shoot" early in the investigation."The deceased was found unarmed, and no firearm was found around where he fell nor on the codefendant when he was captured, " Ranck wrote in an office memo a month after the January 2004 shooting, noting that homicide detective Charles "Buck" McCully told him that no gun was ever found.Also in the memo, Ranck alleged an "appearance of impropriety" because a Miami-Dade police major, Angus Butler, had called the state attorney's office to have him removed from the case. Ranck, who said he was taken off the case for "diplomatic reasons, " raised doubts about the "independence" of Fernández Rundle's office.Last August, Ranck sued Fernández Rundle and her top two assistants after she suspended him without pay for 30 days because he posted his memo on the Justice Building Blog, a Miami-Dade legal community website. Ranck said he posted it in May 2008 only after he had been assured by prosecutor Richard Scruggs that the case would be closed. A key hearing in Ranck's federal lawsuit is set for June. For his part, Llanes pleaded guilty in 2005 to burglary and second-degree felony murder charges, being held responsible for the officer's fatal shooting of Barquin. Llanes received a six-year probationary sentence as a youth offender.

There's Rumpole making news again. The case raises some interesting questions -- can a prosecutor be suspended for speaking out about the handling of a case?

Blogging Block

Nothing is grabbing me for a post today. Maybe because it's Spring Break next week... Or maybe because I have to go to FDC this morning. I dunno...

Anyway, I guess I could write something up about the accountant accused of hiding money in the UBS Swiss bank account.

Or maybe the cops in Ft. Lauderdale who were sentenced in a drug ring yesterday.

I could write about the potential penalties for Donte Stallworth and ask for your opinion about who should get more time -- a DUI defendant who kills someone or a first-time fraudster in federal court.

Hmmmm... Perhaps I should engage the commenter in the post below who asks what I would do if I were U.S. Attorney.

But alas, I need to head out for a couple hours now. Hopefully I'll come back and have some great posting idea. Post suggestions in the comments please.

Federal Bar luncheon

via Celeste Higgins:

Please join me in welcoming this month’s Federal Bar Association's Lunch Series speaker, Dr. Redmond Burke. His presentation is: Medicine at the Speed of Thought. Dr. Burke, a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard University Medical School, became the Chief of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at Miami Children’s Hospital at the age of 36. Dr. Burke is also the co-director of the Congenital Heart Institute of Miami Children’s Hospital at Arnold Palmer Hospital.

Dr. Burke has worked with a heart team to find and develop applications of information technology to improve medical outcomes resulted in a relational database for congenital heart surgery: a web based information system for a medical team and web based reporting of medical outcomes in real time.

The web based information system enabled a unique form of rounds, which are called "internet rounds", enabling information exchange and clinical decision making over the Internet.
Dr. Burke’s research, writing and surgery is legendary in his field. So much so, that he was cast as the host of the ABC network television reality program The Miracle Workers, which first aired March 6, 2006. The program followed patients through complex medical treatments, showing the technical and emotional aspects of modern medical care. Dr. Burke has appeared on CNN, Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN Entertainment, Extra, and Entertainment Tonight to describe novel medical achievements.

I hope you can join us in welcoming Dr. Burke to our luncheon series.

RSVP to Celeste_Higgins@fd.org