"Scott, relax"

That was Scott Rothstein's lawyer during the two-week long depo after Mary Barzee Flores was able to really get under his skin. 

I love reading transcripts of great cross-examinations, and Mary really devastates Rothstein (her cross starts at page 2393 and the whole thing is definitely worth reading). The blogs are abuzz about this exchange (at page 2427):

Q At some point Debra Villegas' best friend and then your former lover was murdered?


A That's correct. She was.

Q She was murdered because she knew too much, right?

A Excuse me? Are you attempting to insinuate that I had something to do with that poor girl's death? Have you lost your mind?

Q You would deny that?

A I would deny it? You're disgusting. Everyone knows that I wasn't involved in it. That's disgusting.

Q How about Julie Timmerman?

A No. No. That is disgusting. Okay. I was a criminal involved in white-collar crime, involved in fraud and the like, involved with the mob and corrupt politicians and corrupt law enforcement. I'm paying for that. Melissa Lewis was a good person. She didn't know too much. She was killed by a psychopath. And you're disgusting for doing that.

Q You gave Debra Villegas a house, right?

A Why drag her family through that? They're going to have to read this, for your purposes, to defend John Harris, who's guilty.

Q You gave Debra Villegas a house --

A You should be ashamed.

Q -- right?

THE WITNESS: I want five minutes. You should be ashamed of yourself. You think I should be in jail. You should be ashamed.

MS. BARZEE FLORES: We'll talk about Julie Timmerman when you come back.

THE WITNESS: You're a disgusting human being. You're the only one out of this entire group of lawyers. You are truly, truly a disgusting human being.

MR. NURIK: Scott, relax. (Thereupon, a recess was taken.)

This exchange made me laugh:

Q You've violated oaths before, though, haven't

you, sir?

A In my prior incarnation, I certainly did.

Q You violated your oath as an attorney?

A I did.

Q You lied to judges?

A I did.

Q You put money, filthy lucre, ahead of your

clients' interests?

A Filthy lucre?

Q Yes. Money?

A Yes. I know what "lucre" is. I've just never

heard anyone use that in a question before.

Q It's in the oath, sir.

A I know it is. I remember the oath. I just --

"for lucre or malice," I remember that. Yes, I violated

that oath.

Welcome Back!

Happy new year everyone!

A quick morning roundup:

1. Justice Roberts is defending Justices Thomas and Kagan on the recusal issue:

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. defended his colleagues as “jurists of exceptional integrity and experience” and said Saturday that it was a misconception that Supreme Court justices do not follow the same set of ethical principles as other judges.

In his year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary, Roberts for the first time addressed a growing controversy about when justices should recuse themselves from cases and whether a code of conduct that covers lower-court judges should apply to the justices as well.
***

Roberts said the public should keep in mind a key difference between lower-court judges and Supreme Court justices: While lower-court judges can be replaced when they recuse themselves from cases, that is not the case at the “court of last resort.”

“A justice accordingly cannot withdraw from a case as a matter of convenience or simply to avoid controversy,” Roberts wrote. “Rather, each justice has an obligation to the court to be sure of the need to recuse before deciding to withdraw from a case.”

Allowing the court itself to decide whether justices should recuse, Roberts said, “would create an undesirable situation in which the court could affect the outcome of a case by selecting who among its members may participate.”

2.  In the NY Times, Peter Henning discussed white-collar prosecutions in 2011 and what to expect in 2012, but no mention of Scott Rothstein.  Blasphemy!

3.  Ellen Podgor gives out her "White Collar Crime Awards" here.  My favorite, of course: The award for "Sentencing Sanity - To Hon. Ellen Huevelle for consistently rejecting DOJ's draconian sentencing recommendations ."

4.  I also enjoyed reading this article about a big firm lawyer who spent a year as a prosecutor.  Her take on how she handled so many cases:

"Controlling a room, or at least giving the impression you're in control, is absolutely fundamental," she says. "When people came to that room, I was gracious, but I treated them like a guest." That meant police officers, victims, defendants, bailiffs, court clerks, defense attorneys, and even "the judge, frankly, was a guest."

Happy Festivus

Yes, it's that time of year again: Enjoy the holidays everyone. The blog is going to be shut down next week. See you back on January 2, 2012. Happy New Year.

Another holiday NG

A few posts ago, I told you about Steve Bronis and Paul Calli taking on the feds up in DC. Well today, the judge (Richard J. Leon) entered a Rule 29 for their client in a large FCPA case after a twelve week trial. Very sweet win for these guys who have been working very hard out of town for a long time. Congrats.

Getting to Not Guilty

Well, Judges Kathy Williams and Bob Scola have their first federal trials under their belts. The jury in both cases came back with not guilty verdicts across the board. Nice holiday presents to the defendants!

Paul Calli takes on the feds in DC

More misconduct in a high profile trial. Main Justice covers the story, but you need to be a member to access the content: UPDATE -- MAIN JUSTICE CALLED ME AND SAID I NEEDED TO TAKE DOWN THE CONTENT THAT I POSTED. OH WELL...

Happy Hanukkah

DBR's year in review

It's a fun read.  And it's been a typical Miami year, and that means craziness.  From Rothstein to Nevin Shapiro to Lewis Freeman... the "only-in-Miami" list goes on and on. 

Other than the Rothstein depo, I think everything else is pretty much shut down for the next two weeks. 

If anything is going on, email me!