Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Abramoff trial date

Judge Huck is apparently ready to try the Abramoff case. For those who practice in this District, you know that Judge Huck is always ready to try cases. The parties had other ideas. According to this law.com article by Julie Kay, trial is currently set for December 12. The judge initially set it for October but after Neal Sonnett (Abramoff's attorney) and Martin Jaffe (Kidan's attorney) pressed about the amount of discovery and other issues, the judge moved it a couple of months. I never understood why these cases get rushed to trial. The government gets as long as it wants (usually years) to investigate and put its case together and the defense gets mere months to review everything the government has and prepare its own case. In any event, it will be interesting to see if it actually goes in December. Any bets?

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

More Abramoff news...

Jack Abramoff pleaded not guilty yesterday. It made the news here, here, and here. The Sunday Washington Post also had a long article about the case.

Monday, August 29, 2005

Back on-line... (UPDATED)

No air-conditioning. No hot water. No lights. But the worst part of all -- no internet access! Now that we're back on-line, there were two important stories this morning.

1. Jay Weaver reports that "The attorney representing Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela -- founder of the Cali cartel, which once supplied 80 percent of all the cocaine on U.S. streets -- wants a federal judge to let him withdraw from the case because of the great risk of accepting potentially tainted legal fees from his client. Today, Jose QuiƱon will ask U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno for permission to step aside as the Colombian's lawyer because he does not have ''sufficient comfort to proceed with the representation,'' according to court papers.
The judge is likely to assign Rodriguez Orejuela's costly defense to a court-appointed lawyer who would be paid by the U.S. government -- a right normally reserved for poor defendants who cannot afford their own lawyer." The government has really put Quinon and Judge Moreno in a pickle. Of course, the CJA panel is not meant to provide legal services to Gilberto Orejuela. But what is the lawyer or the judge to do? This case really demonstrates the power the government has to keep a presumed innocent defendant from having the lawyer of his choice.

UPDATE-- Judge Moreno let Jose Quinon off the case. See coverage here. Orejuela has until next Wednesday to find a lawyer. If not, a CJA lawyer will be appointed. Stay tuned...

2. Julie Kay reports that the new U.S. Attorney has placed a priority on prosecuting pornography. Not terrorism. Not violent crime. Not drugs. Not white collar crime. Not CHILD pornography. But consenting adult pornography. Can this really be true? Here's some highlights from the article: "When FBI supervisors in Miami met with new interim U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta last month, they wondered what the top enforcement priority for Acosta and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would be. Would it be terrorism? Organized crime? Narcotics trafficking? Immigration? Or maybe public corruption? The agents were stunned to learn that a top prosecutorial priority of Acosta and the Department of Justice was none of the above. Instead, Acosta told them, it’s obscenity. Not pornography involving children, but pornographic material featuring consenting adults. Acosta’s stated goal of prosecuting distributors of adult porn has angered federal and local law enforcement officials, as well as prosecutors in his own office. They say there are far more important issues in a high-crime area like South Florida, which is an international hub at risk for terrorism, money laundering and other dangerous activities. His own prosecutors have warned Acosta that prioritizing adult porn would reduce resources for prosecuting other crimes, including porn involving children. According to high-level sources who did not want to be identified, Acosta has assigned prosecutors porn cases over their objections."

Thursday, August 25, 2005

News and notes

This may be the last post pending Katrina... All federal courthouses close today at 1PM, so until they reopen, check out these two interesting stories.

1. Fascinating article in the Business Review today about how e-mail is being used as a weapon against a corporate defendant in a contract dispute. John O'Sullivan and Jason Kellogg of Akerman Senterfitt are the lawyers for Quantum Communications and have dug up the e-mails that apparently sink defendant Ronald Hale. The case is in front of Judge Martinez. The DBR explained Judge Martinez's reaction when the defendant said he couldn't recall the e-mail: "Judge Martinez, a former prosecutor, did not buy that the dates of the negotiations slipped Hale’s memory. At the Aug. 3 hearing, he likened it to his days as a prosecutor, when he asked a witness if he was on an airplane that crashed in the Colombian jungle with 4,000 pounds of narcotics on it, and the witness said he could not remember. “That’s like telling me you’re asked have any of your children ever died a violent death, and you say, ‘I don’t really remember,’ ” Martinez said from the bench. Days later, Martinez granted the preliminary injunction for Qantum."

2. Eligio Perez, a former Customs Inspector at Miami International Airport, pled guilty yesterday before United States District Court Judge Federico Moreno in federal court in Miami to a criminal indictment charging him with disclosure of confidential government information, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1905. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Perez agreed to immediately resign from his federal employment and agreed not to seek any other federal or state law enforcement employment. Perez is scheduled to be sentenced on November 2, 2005. Case was prosecuted by Daniel Fridman.

3. Finally, the JNC is accepting applications for U.S. Attorney in this District. The deadline is October 3. Should I apply?

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Katrina closes federal courts tomorrow at 1PM

Chief Judge Zloch just announced that the federal courts will close at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. Below is the text of the advisory, with a link to the court's website.

District Court Operations and Tropical Storm Katrina Chief Judge Zloch announced that all Divisions of the United States DistrictCourt for the Southern District of Florida will be open to the public at 9:00 A.M. on Thursday, August 25th. The Court’s public functions at alllocations will be suspended at 1:00 P.M. in anticipation of the onset ofwind and rain conditions associated with Tropical Storm Katrina. Thisincludes the Court’s locations in Key West, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, WestPalm Beach and Fort Pierce.No new jury trials will be started nor will jurors be called to report onThursday, August 25th. Jurors who are currently sitting on trials mustfollow the instructions of the presiding judges.Criminal duty matters in all Divisions will be conducted before Noon. Alldistrict court staff should report for work as scheduled. A determinationabout the status of continuation of non-public functions will be made bynoon Thursday. A liberal leave approval policy will be observed for staffwho are not able to report to work. Further information about the status ofthe Court’s operations for Friday, August 26th will be available on theCourt’s website: www.flsd.uscourts.gov by 1:00 P.M. Thursday.