Friday, July 22, 2005

News and notes

Various items of interest in the news concerning the Southern District this morning:

1. USA v. Serge Edouard, a closely watched trial in front of Judge Moore, resulted in a guilty verdict. According to this Miami Herald article, "A federal jury in Miami convicted a powerful Haitian businessman Thursday of running a conspiracy to export tons of cocaine and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to top security officials in the government of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Serge Edouard, 43, reputedly one of Haiti's richest men, showed no emotion when the jury found him guilty of 11 counts of cocaine smuggling and money laundering. He could spend the rest of his life in prison." Representing the government, Lynn Kirkpatrick and Matt Axelrod.

2. The drunk pilots ended up with sentences of 5 years and 2 1/2 years. Read about it here. Although this case ended up in state court, it was in federal court for a bit, in front of Judge Seitz, before the 11th sent it back to state court. You can read about the federal proceedings here.

3. Roy Black's new legal reality TV show. The Daily Business Review covers it here (pass through link required).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am glad the drunk pilots were found guilty. It isn't everyday the prosecution gets a video that shows just how much the defendants were drinking.

David Oscar Markus said...

Sure, but how do you feel about their exremely harsh sentences of 5 years and 2 1/2 years?