Snitching ain't easy

 Rick Singer, the mastermind of the Varsity Blues case, and the main cooperating witness, was sentenced today to 3.5 years in prison.  Although it was significantly lower than the guidelines urged by the government, it was the highest sentence of all 50+ defendants who were sentenced in the case. 

Here's a good thread on the sentencing from Shelley Murphy who covered it:

Prosecutor Stephen Frank tells judge that Singer deserves a higher sentence than others in Varsity Blues case because "without him this massive, historic national scheme would never have happened…he is the face of this fraud."

— Shelley Murphy (@shelleymurph) January 4, 2023

 

NPR had a good article setting forth all of the issues in advance of the sentencing.

A room with a view.

The view from the Federal Detention Center Miami: the pool at Downtown 5th “luxury apartment rentals” #BecauseMiami pic.twitter.com/bNjL5UqZNU

— Because Miami (@BecauseMiami) January 3, 2023

Cruise lines hit with over $400 million in damages

 

By John R. Byrne

A tough note to end 2022 on for cruise companies Carnival, MSC SA, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian. Judge Bloom has ordered them to pay over $439 million in damages for engaging in “prohibited tourism." The case was brought under the 1996 Helms-Burton Act or Libertad Act. In short, the cruise companies took U.S. travelers to Cuba and, in so doing, used the Havana port facilities that Castro had confiscated.

Judge Bloom noted deterrence as one of the reasons for the significant damages award, writing “A lower award as Defendants suggest would not effectively serve a deterrent purpose, since a lesser award could conceivably be considered merely a cost of doing business.” The Herald covers it here.

Roy Black strikes back

Roy Black has written a wonderful letter in the DBR about advocacy and time limits. It's worth a read:

With great sadness I read of the death of advocacy in these pages on Dec. 23rd​ (I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It’: Miami-Dade Attorney Held in Criminal Contempt​).​ Derrick Morales was given 40 minutes for his final argument, including 20 seconds for rebuttal. Apparently he uttered a few words over the critical time limit and was held in criminal contempt for “obstructing the administration of justice…”

Contempt is usually a toxic stain on a lawyer’s reputation, but in this case, it is more the red badge of courage.

The incomparable ​Clarence ​Darrow argued to a judge for 12 hours over three days to save Leopold and Loeb from the hangman. But the modern, efficient, time-pressed judge no longer sees any value in extended lawyer advocacy. The art is slowly fading away, being replaced by technology.

John Paul Stryker wrote a book on trial advocacy which he subtitled, “a plea for the renaissance of the trial lawyer” in 1954. Instead of a new flowering of eloquence, we are suffering the black death of silence. No longer is advocacy welcomed in our trial courts. It is treated as an unnecessary waste of time, or now, a crime worthy of condemnation and punishment.

I have a lot of empathy. I was once granted an entire three minutes by the Eleventh Circuit. And in another case, an undistinguished federal judge in northern Indiana declared a recess in the middle of my final argument, ordering the marshals to quickly shelter the jury from my words. I’m not sure if my argument was too good or too bad. At least I avoided imprisonment.

Why is there a time limit placed on final argument? Too persuasive? Too dramatic? Or too pedestrian? We are trial lawyers; we go to war with words. We have the verbal confidence to stand on our feet, articulate the facts, and marshal our arguments. We are able to speak with passion in a way that inspires people. The final argument is our primary weapon.

I don’t know what Derrick Morales said in those last few minutes of overtime but I picture it as Salman Rushdie did: “Language is courage; the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so, to make it true.”

Never Give Up

By Michael Caruso

For all those like me who receive a Treasury check every two weeks, last Friday's passage of the 2023 spending bill came as a welcome relief. And, because this bill is a "must pass" measure, lawmakers were furiously negotiating to include various items in the last few weeks. For example, the Senate failed to include the EQUAL Act—which eliminates the federal sentencing disparity between drug offenses involving crack cocaine and powder cocaine—in the omnibus appropriations bill.

One of our local representatives, however, successfully led a bipartisan effort to correct a different wrong by awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to Benjamin Ferencz—the last living Nuremberg prosecutor.

Ferencz was born in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania in 1920. When he was ten months old, his family moved to New York—a small basement apartment in "Hell's Kitchen." After he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1943, he joined an anti-aircraft artillery battalion preparing for the invasion of France. As an enlisted man under General Patton, he fought in most major European campaigns. As Nazi atrocities were uncovered, he was transferred to a newly created War Crimes Branch of the Army to gather evidence of Nazi brutality and apprehend the criminals.

After his discharge from the Army, he returned to New York and prepared to practice law. Shortly after, he was recruited for the Nuremberg war crimes trials. Ferencz became Chief Prosecutor in The Einsatzgruppen Case, which the Associated Press called "the biggest murder trial in history." Twenty-two defendants were charged with murdering over a million people. He was only twenty-seven years old. It was his first case.

According to Ferencz, "Nuremberg taught me that creating a world of tolerance and compassion would be a long and arduous task. And I also learned that if we did not devote ourselves to developing effective world law, the same cruel mentality that made the Holocaust possible might one day destroy the entire human race."

In 1970, Ferencz decided to withdraw gradually from the private practice of law and dedicate himself to studying and writing about world peace. Earlier this year, right after his 102nd birthday, Ferencz said when he publicly presents his life story, he always tells his audience, "There are three important lessons I wish to transmit: One, never give up, Two, never give up, and three, never give up."

We all should be grateful Mr. Ferencz never did.

What should we do about the Supreme Court?

 Erwin Chemerinsky says because the Court's approval rating is so low, it's time for a change to restore legitimacy for the Court.  He says 18-year term limits are the answer:

The United States is the only democracy that gives members of its highest court life tenure. In fact, few states provide such a guarantee to their justices and judges. Life expectancy is much longer now than it was in 1787, when the Constitution was written. From 1787 through 1970, Supreme Court justices served an average of 15 years; justices appointed since 1970 have served an average of 27 years.

Clarence Thomas was 43 years old when he was confirmed, in 1991. If he remains on the court until he is 90, the age at which Justice John Paul Stevens retired, he will have been a justice for 47 years. This is too much power in one person’s hands for too long. Also, too much now depends on accidents of history, namely when court vacancies happen to occur. President Richard Nixon appointed four justices in his first two years in office; President Jimmy Carter picked no justices in his four years. President Donald Trump picked three justices in four years, while the previous three Democratic presidents served a combined 20 years in the White House but selected only four. Staggered, 18-year, non-renewable terms would mean that each president would make at least one nomination every two years. My sense is that there is bipartisan support for this reform, which would require a constitutional amendment. Rick Perry, the Republican former Texas governor, argued for it when he ran for president in 2016. Liberals support it as well. Term limits should be applied to current justices. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be implemented for decades. Amy Coney Barrett was 48 years old when she was confirmed, in 2020. If she remains on the court until she is 87, the age Ruth Bader Ginsburg was when she died, she will be a justice until 2059. The question is whether any constituency cares enough about this issue to do the hard work of getting the Constitution amended. That would mean lobbying Congress to propose the amendment and then mounting a campaign for its adoption by state legislatures.

Happy Festivus

 

 

 It's time to air some grievances: 

1. Prosecutors who still don't turn over all 302s. 

2. Prosecutors who still don't agree to turn over exhibit and witness lists. 

3. Judges who don't force prosecutors to do so. 

4. Corporate surety bonds (instead of signature bonds). 

5. The Sentencing Guidelines. 

6. The Trial Tax. 

7. Harmless error. 

8. Lawyers who claim to be defense lawyers who won't tell you what their client will say at trial. 

9. Judges who deny motions for continuances. 

10. 801(d)(2)(e).

Be careful who you sue....

 By John R. Byrne

This holiday season, a Girl Scout troop took a trip to New York to see the Rockettes perform at Radio City Music Hall. Security instantly descended on one of the moms in the group because Madison Square Garden Entertainment's facial recognition software had "picked [her] up." No, she isn't a terrorist. She's a lawyer. And she's an associate at a law firm that has sued a restaurant owned by MSG Entertainment (no, she's not working on the case). MSG kicked her out of the venue, leaving her to wait outside while her daughter and the rest of the troop watched the show. Nothing to see here, according to MSG:

“MSG instituted a straightforward policy that precludes attorneys pursuing active litigation against the Company from attending events at our venues until that litigation has been resolved. While we understand this policy is disappointing to some, we cannot ignore the fact that litigation creates an inherently adverse environment. All impacted attorneys were notified of the policy, including [the law firm at issue], which was notified twice."

Silly. You can read more about it here.