"We should start from scratch, because justice hasn't been achieved.'

That was AFPD Brian Stekloff for Guillermo Zarabozo in the Joe Cool case asking for a new trial on all counts. He continued: "Everyone in this courtroom knows how this jury reached this inconsistent and irrational verdict: They didn't understand the law." AUSA Karen Gilbert responded: "This scenario is not one where the court should set the verdict aside. We live with it. That's the verdict."

Judge Huck took the matter under consideration and set trial for January on the hung counts. Judge Huck did note that the jury's verdict "raises on eyebrow."

(via Sun-Sentinel, AP, Herald)

"If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law, it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."

Cheryl Stein has a nice op-ed in the Washington Times regarding Herring v. United States, a case the Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday. (Today is the first Monday in October -- Yippeee!) It raises the following question: whether courts must suppress evidence seized during an arrest made as a result of faulty information provided by another law enforcement agency.

Stein argues that the Supreme Court should not abandon the exclusionary rule. Here is her conclusion:

The contention that we should not allow a blunder by the police to confer a benefit on a criminal defendant would be reasonable only if most illegal searches are the result of good-faith mistakes. The sad fact is, however, that the vast majority of illegal searches are the result of deliberate misconduct by the police.

Political commentators and law professors who have never been in a courtroom except to defend their own traffic tickets may not understand that fact, but every practicing criminal defense lawyer knows it to be true. The rule provides the only legal brake on police misconduct. Without its sanctions, the Constitution's guarantee against unreasonable searches would be empty.

Finally, the critics fail to address one of the most important reasons the rule was adopted in the first place: to preserve the integrity of our court system. The Supreme Court explained its necessity more than 40 years ago: "If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law, it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy." The rule "gives to the individual no more than that which the Constitution guarantees him, to the police officer no less than that to which honest law enforcement is entitled, and, to the courts, that judicial integrity so necessary in the true administration of justice." To forget that teaching is to abandon all that is best and brightest about our system of government.

Start your engines

Team Penske star Helio Castroneves has been charged with tax evasion in our District. (via the Miami Herald).

Here's a picture of him with Julianne Hough from Dancing with the Stars. He is scheduled to make his initial appearance tomorrow in magistrate court.

UPDATE -- Here's the AP article. And the indictment, which has been assigned to Judge Graham. Prosecutor: Matt Axelrod.

"I never believed for a minute that he was guilty of any of the charges, not even the ones we convicted him of"

That's one of the jurors in the Joe Cool case. Articles in the Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald detail how at least 3 jurors still believe Guillermo Zarabozo is not guilty of all counts, even the 4 they voted guilty on.

From the Sentinel:

Three jurors in the Joe Cool murder-at-sea trial said Wednesday they felt pressured to convict the 20-year-old defendant on gun charges even though they believed he did not kill anyone or know his companion planned to hijack the boat.One said she voted to convict, even though she felt the man on trial was innocent. Another seemed to believe he had cast a not-guilty vote, though guilty verdicts in federal court must be unanimous.After four days of heated deliberations, the 12 jurors voted Tuesday to convict Guillermo Zarabozo of supplying the firearm used to kill Capt. Jake Branam, 27; his wife, Kelley, 30; his half-brother, Scott Gamble, 36; and the first mate, Samuel Kairy, 27.In interviews with the Sun Sentinel, two women and one man from the panel said they were confused about the gun charges and badgered — even bullied — to vote guilty by fellow jurors.

From the Herald:

''I want to take back my vote to convict. I'm just sick over this whole thing. I think there has been a great miscarriage of justice, and I need to correct it,'' Venora Gray, 51, said.
Her disclosure came one day after she and 11 other jurors deadlocked on the major charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery in the fatal shootings of four Miami Beach charter boat crew members last year. But they all agreed to convict Zarabozo of four counts of using a firearm in a violent crime -- a charge she and the other panelists did not realize carried a life sentence, she said.
''No one in that jury room knew those were such serious charges,'' said Gray, a waitress from North Miami, who years ago served as a juror in another murder trial and convicted the defendant. ``There was no way I would have voted on that if I had known.''
The jurors' revelations could have a serious impact on an already challenged conviction. Seconds after Tuesday night's verdict, Zarabozo's defense team said the jurors could not convict on the charge of using a firearm to kill when they had not convicted Zarabozo of any of the murder charges.


Judge Huck is having a hearing on Monday to determine whether he should grant a new trial on the four counts on which the jury convicted. These interviews seem to support the defense view that the jurors were confused on the gun count.

As an aside, this bolsters my view that every jury should know the potential penalties of the crimes they are voting on. Judge Jack Weinstein in the Eastern District of New York recently wrote a 200+ page opinion holding that in some cases jurors should know the penalties.

Playboy pinup in federal court this week

Enough with hung juries and murder trials.

There was a Playboy model testifying in federal court this week.

Here's the Herald article about her:

María del Luján Telpuk descended on Miami beneath a cascade of camera lights and questions.
Journalists from three countries pounced on the 27-year-old bombshell as she arrived from South America on Sunday morning. Looking dainty and fresh after her eight hour flight, she posed for photographers, gave a pair of live telephone interviews, and said little about her role in a legal case that could shame two presidents.
Telpuk is known as the ''suitcase girl'' in her native Argentina. She is in Miami to testify in federal court about the alleged coverup of an international scandal that involves the United States, Argentina, Venezuela, and a suitcase full of $800,000 in unexplained cash.
The case has transformed the one-time nursery school teacher into a Playboy pinup, and, evidenced by her loving embrace of the cameras at Miami International Airport, she is clearly savoring her 15 minutes of fame.
''The truth is I still don't totally understand'' the turn her life has taken, Telpuk told The Miami Herald as she walked to the car waiting to whisk her away to an undisclosed hotel. ``It's been very shocking for me, though it's brought many new and good things.''

Joe Cool jury hangs on first degree murder counts

That's a victory for the defense.

The jury did convict on 4 gun counts. The prosecution will be happy with some convictions after it looked like the jury would hang on everything yesterday, especially since the potential sentences on those counts are life.

Food for thought -- should Judge Huck order a new trial on all counts because the jury may have been confused on the gun counts based on its previous note and because it appears that the jurors compromised after the Allen charge? If the case has to be retried anyway, why not try the whole thing? What are your thoughts?

Chuckie Taylor case opens

The DOJ lawyer, Chris Graveline, spoke about the "Demon Forces", a unit that tortured people, including cutting a man's penis with a knife and dumping him in a pit.

Assistant Federal Defender John Wylie said if the case were a newspaper headline, it would read "Desperate and disgruntled Africans accuse American to escape wartorn Liberia".

Should be a very interesting trial. I will post media coverage shortly.

RIP Joe Eaton

I never really knew Joe Eaton, but everyone always says such nice things about him... Sadly, we've lost another one of the old guard. If you have a good story about Judge Eaton, please post them in the comments.

From the Palm Beach Post:


The U.S. district judge who ruled to integrate Palm Beach County's public schools died on Sunday, leaving behind a sea of accomplishments that focused on serving others.
Joe Eaton saw everyone as equal, no matter the color of one's skin, because that's what he learned growing up on a watermelon seed farm in northern Florida. Those teachings stuck with him for the rest of his life, said Janet Eaton Sherr, the youngest of Mr. Eaton's three children.

"We were taught as children the importance of equality in life," said Sherr, of Boca Raton, who is also a member of the Boca Raton Airport Authority.
After Mr. Eaton's ruling to integrate schools in 1973, a man tried to kill him, Sherr said, by trying to strangle him in his truck. Mr. Eaton, who at the time was about 6-foot-2 and 260 pounds, managed to take control and call police. But even then, he didn't regret his decision of bringing equality to all students.
Mr. Eaton accomplished so much in his 88 years, it's difficult for his daughter to even know where to start. "He's just done so many things," Sherr, 58, said.
In 1967, he was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to take the U.S. District Court seat in the Southern District of Florida. He was a state senator, an assistant state attorney and a captain and a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He eloped with his then-17-year-old bride, Patricia Eaton, before joining the military, where he earned honors including the Purple Heart, Sherr said.
Patricia and Joe Eaton were married 66 years. He died in his sleep in their home at the East Ridge Retirement Village near Miami.
He spent his free time fishing and boating on the Peace River in Arcadia, Fla., where he owned a second home. At the East Ridge Retirement Village outside of Miami, where he and Patricia lived, he sang in the chorus and was chairman of the town council.
He had six grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and At the age of 81, Mr. Eaton wrote his first and only book about his time in the war and named it Tiger Stripe.
"I could tell my dad everything," Sherr said through tears. "I lost a best friend along with a dad."
A funeral will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday at the First United Methodist Church of South Miami. The family will receive guests at 6:30 p.m. Friday at 9881 SW 103rd St., Miami.