One question too many

 By John R. Byrne

How many jury questions can a magistrate judge answer if a district judge assigns the MJ to receive a jury verdict and neither party timely objects to that assignment? According to the 11th Circuit, 0.  The court just reversed a $4.95 million jury verdict where a district judge assigned a magistrate judge to receive a verdict and the magistrate judge, while presiding, answered jury questions. 

It all started with a district judge trying to catch a plane. The court asked the parties if they were o.k. having the paired magistrate judge "take my place in terms of receiving the verdict from the jury." Neither party objected. If the story ended there, we wouldn't be here. The "mere acceptance of a jury verdict and the polling of a jury constitute no more than ministerial tasks that a magistrate judge may properly perform" (and that's true whether or not the parties consent). But this jury was inquisitive. Questions and notes. Six of them. And, as the Eleventh Circuit explained, responding to jury questions is a "critical stage" of a trial that requires either a presiding Article III judge OR the parties consenting to the MJ performing such a task. This case had neither, so reversal was required. 

Not a fun way to lose a verdict after a 16-day trial!

PB Legacy by John Byrne on Scribd

New podcast episode For The Defense -- CNN's Kaitlan Collins

FOR THE DEFENSE -- SEASON 6, EPISODE 2 KAITLAN COLLINS Cross examining witnesses is one of the hardest things criminal defense lawyers do.  There's a lot to be learned from journalists who do it live on the air with difficult politicians.  And CNN's Kaitlan Collins is one of the best at doing it.  In this episode, we discuss how she prepares for her interviews, how she deals with difficult interviews, as well as lots of other interesting topics -- from cameras in the courtroom to covering high profile trials and so on.  This podcast episode is a recording from my White Collar Law class at the University of Miami School of Law.  I think you'll agree after listening that Kaitlan is terrific.  Listen on your computer here, or on Apple and Spotify. And I've posted the raw video on YouTube. Please send me your feedback -- and of course, subscribe, like and comment!  If you have a friend that would like to receive these updates, please have them sign up here.   Hosted by David Oscar Markus and produced by rakontur

Judge Roy Altman leads by example (with unrelated updated)

Jewish-owned business targeted by hateful vandalism. Miami mayor @FrancisSuarez and federal judge Roy Altman show up to help clean it up. Story on @nbc6 starting at noon. pic.twitter.com/ybgWz1tGJb

— Ari Odzer (@ariodzernbc6) June 17, 2024

In an unrelated update, the Supreme Court granted cert today in another fraud case, Kousisis v. United States: In order to get work, the defendant used as a front a company that qualified as a “disadvantaged business enterprise,” though the company performed no actual work. His claim on appeal is that his actions did not constitute mail or wire fraud because they were not intended to cause economic harm. The 3rd said it was enough for fraud* and the High Court granted cert:

 (1) Whether deception to induce a commercial exchange can constitute mail or wire fraud, even if inflicting economic harm on the alleged victim was not the object of the scheme; (2) whether a sovereign’s statutory, regulatory, or policy interest is a property interest when compliance is a material term of payment for goods or services; and (3) whether all contract rights are “property.”

 *Note to district courts and appellate courts -- it's okay to dismiss indictments and find that prosecutors overcharge.  The Supreme Court keeps reversing these fraud cases.  You can too!

You be the judge

How much time should Donald Trump receive for his conviction in New York for falsifying business records?

What about Hunter Biden in Delaware for being an addict in possession of a firearm?

Both should get probation.

After all, both are first time, non-violent offenders.   And there were no victims in either case. 

But I suspect both will get some jail time.

I'm setting the over under at 6 months in each case. 

What would you do if you were the judge and what do you predict they will actually receive?

SDFLA closed tomorrow (Thursday)

U.S. District Courts in South Florida will be closed tomorrow, due to the weather and hazardous conditions. The sentencing hearing in the matter of U.S. v. Frenel Cenat, Case No. 24-CR-60016 has been re-scheduled for June 18 at 10:00 a.m. before Senior Judge James I. Cohn in Fort Lauderdale.

Chiquita Hit with $38.3 million Judgment

 By John R. Byrne

There's now a jury verdict in a case that's been hanging around for years. In a trial up in West Palm, a jury found that Chiquita knowingly funded a Colombian paramilitary group called Autodefensas Unitas de Colombia, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States. The lawsuit was brought by the families of eight Colombian men killed by the AUC. Chiquita had claimed that the AUC effectively extorted payments from Chiquita to protect Chiquita's workers. CNN covers it here.

Young Thug

 What's going on in Atlanta state court is insane.  Criminal defense lawyer Brian Steel was held in criminal contempt yesterday and ordered to serve 10 weekends in jail because he asked the judge about an ex parte communication he had with a witness and the prosecutor, and then had the audacity to refuse to reveal his source about the meeting.  The judge has totally lost control of the trial and the proceedings. 

Judge Jacqueline Becerra's formal investiture

Congratulations to Judge Becerra.

It was a packed house and a really warm event.  Interestingly, all of the speeches were by women.