Jose Padilla jury speaks

Fascinating story below from Jay Weaver about the jury deliberations in Padilla.
Apparently, it was a very close case on Padilla and it came down to one phone call. Five months in trial and the case came down to one call. Amazing.
Check it out:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/213540.html
--David Oscar Markus
www.markuslaw.com
305-379-6667

On the road again

Headed to the District of DC today. Blogging on hold for a bit.
--David Oscar Markus
www.markuslaw.com
305-379-6667

"Your honor, I am an innocent man, I have been wrongly convicted."

That was Kenneth Wilk before he was sentenced to life in prison (by Judge Cohn) for killing Officer Todd Fatta. Here's the Sun-Sentinel article about the sentencing.

Michael Vick

There are whispers that Virginia may pursue state charges against Michael Vick for dogfighting. Professor Berman asks whether this is fair. It's a good question and one that comes up in this District from time to time. It seems to me that once one sovereign or the other resolves a criminal case, that should be it. I understand that the double jeopardy clause has been interpreted to allow separate prosecutions by the state and the federal governments, but does this really make sense? This is one of those areas of the law that makes absolutely no sense to most lawyers and to the general public. Any thoughts from SDFLA readers?

And if you are looking for some Vick humor, here is David Letterman's top ten Michael Vick excuses.

If you are looking for some Miami humor, Rumpole is in good form today...

Cuban Spies go to Atlanta

While most of Atlanta was focused on Michael Vick today, the 11th Circuit heard a spirited oral argument (the third argument in this case) in the Cuban Spy case. According to this AP account, there was a line out the door to see the argument:

Dozens of people lined up outside the Atlanta courthouse more than two hours before the arguments began to watch the latest chapter of the decade-long saga unfold.

Pictured is defense lawyer Brenda Bryn and Richard Klugh. To her left is AUSA Caroline Heck Miller. The picture is from the AP's Richard Miller. Here's the background on the case:

The "Cuban Five" have been lionized as heroes in Cuba, while exile groups say they were justly punished.
Castro's government sent Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez to South Florida to gather information about anti-communist exile groups and send it back to the island using encrypted software, high-frequency radio transmissions and coded electronic phone messages.
The five were convicted of being unregistered foreign agents, and three were found guilty of espionage conspiracy for failed efforts to obtain military secrets. Hernandez was also convicted of murder conspiracy in the deaths of four Miami-based pilots whose small, private planes were shot down in February 1996 by a Cuban MiG in international waters off Cuba's northern coast.
They were sentenced to terms ranging from 10 years to life in December 2001, but the case has ping-ponged through the court system the last six years due to a round of appeals.
In August 2005, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta tossed the verdicts, saying the five didn't receive a fair trial because of anti-Castro bias in Miami. But the convictions were reinstated exactly a year later by the full 11th Circuit.
Monday's arguments before another three-judge panel of the court offered the five their latest shot at freedom.

Richard Klugh for the defense:

Defense attorney Richard Klugh focused his arguments on Guerrero, who was accused of sending detailed reports on the Naval Air Station at Key West. He said his client could have used public information _ not clandestine espionage _ to piece together the reports.
"An enterprising reporter could have obtained the same info that Antonio Guerrero obtained on that base," Klugh said. "He's doing a life sentence for something that could have been published in the Miami Herald."

And Brenda Bryn followed, saying that "prosecutors breached 12 different categories of misconduct that 'have never before been identified in one case.' She said the law demands the court reopen the case based on the "flagrancy" of the misconduct, noting that 28 of 34 objections lodged against prosecutors during closing arguments were sustained."

AUSA Caroline Heck Miller responded:

"Red baiting. Communism. Your Honor, that was not the record of this case," Miller said. "It was a soberly tried case."

On the road

I'm in the middle district today. Blogging to continue when I return.

--David Oscar Markus
www.markuslaw.com
305-379-6667

"You don't have to be crazy to be a criminal defense lawyer in this town- but it helps!!!!"

Jack Blumenfeld, a long-time criminal defense lawyer in Miami, who has represented Jose Battle, Sr. and one of the "Cuban spies", emailed us last night regarding the Padilla verdict and how criminal defense lawyers suffer from disease where you convince yourself that you have a shot at a NG verdict in impossible cases. With permission, we reprint his email here:

If you want to talk to some lawyers to get an idea what the defense is going through, talk to [the Cuban Spy lawyers] about the effect on us when the Cuban Spy jury came back with guilty verdicts. We may have been the only 5 people in Dade County who thought that we could win a NG for Cuban spies in Miami- and that included the defendants, all 5 of whom knew what the outcome would be. I think judge Lenard saw the devastation on our faces, as she cleared the courtroom and had the doors locked, so we could partially recover. Ironically, the defendants were consoling the lawyers. I was in a daze for a week.

These people will go through the same thing. It happens when you ABSOLUTELY know you won the trial but lost the verdict. Cuban Spies- Alleged AQ members- and we all fought our hearts out for a NG- doesn't that make you feel great you chose criminal defense? You don't have to be crazy to be a criminal defense lawyer in this town- but it helps!!!!

Jose Padilla verdicts

Well, there will now be a bunch of articles from the MSM about the verdict (with the scripts depending on what side you're on).

Here is what I saw in the courtroom and my initial reaction:

1. Court security officers were insufferable. It was almost impossible to get into the courtroom. This is the biggest trial and verdict in the country right now and you can barely get in the courthouse! Silly.

2. The media is not permitted to have cell phones with them in the courtroom. After the verdicts were read, no one was allowed out of the courtroom for a couple minutes. I don't know how CNN and the AP got the articles up so quickly. It's a neat trick.

3. My cell phone crashed with all the people text messaging me and emailing me to post the verdicts. So my post was a couple minutes late, after my phone rebooted!

4. The defense lawyers' voices were all cracking as they asked for more time to file post-trial motions. I feel so bad for them right now. To put your life into a case for years and to have a 5 month trial and then to have the verdict so quickly is horrible. My heart goes out to these lawyers...

5. Sentencing is set for December 5. The defendants will be interviewed by the probation office, who will prepare a presentence investigation report for the judge. It will detail the defendants' history and the guideline ranges. Based on the verdicts, I believe the guideline range is life.

6. The appellate process. The defense has some interesting issues, which I will detail in another post. This will take time -- about a year after sentencing. We're looking at late 2008 or early 2009.

7. The government. Congratulations to the government lawyers. They fought hard and won and deserve credit for their victory. After the verdicts were read, they all shook hands and walked out of the courthouse through the back entrance to avoid the press. I'm sure DOJ will have a press conference later, but these trial lawyers deserve the credit.

8. Judge Cooke and her chambers. I'm sure they are thrilled to have this trial behind them. Oftentimes, we all forget how hard the court personnel work on these trials. Congrats to them. Go have a beer...