Kidan plea

This one was pretty obvious, but here's the news anyway -- Adam Kidan pleaded guilty to fraud and is likely to be a cooperating witness in a number of different cases, including against Jack Abramoff. Kidan's lawyer is Joseph Conway. Prosecutors are Lawrence LaVecchio and Paul Schwartz. Judge Huck is presiding over the case, which is still set for trial (for Abramoff -- represented by Neal Sonnett) in January. Coverage here and here.

Charges for Air Marshals?

So the Department of Justice has hired two Zuckerman Spaeder lawyers -- Mike Pasano and Paul Calli -- to represent the two air marshals who shot and killed the mentally ill man who said he had a bomb at the Miami airport. Pasano quips in the DBR article that “I guess they have a list of good lawyers somewhere that they call in such cases.” Some lawyers, he noted, won’t take these cases because the government pays “extremely low” fees. Calli said “I’m confident it will be determined [the air marshals] acted reasonably and appropriately under the circumstances.” Brian Tannebaum was quoted in the article saying that no charges would be filed. I completely agree. No chance, no way will charges be filed against these guys. Thoughts?

Boobie boys opinion

The 11th Circuit yesterday decided the "Boobie Boys" case, affirming most of the convictions. The court did reverse two of the convictions for "Jonathon "Moose" Hawthorne and Ben "Bush" Johnson. Judge Barkett wrote the 137 page opinion. The court repeatedly said that the district court erred in admitting all sorts of hearsay and opinion testimony, but for most of the appellants, the court found the error harmless.

Professor Berman has this interesting comment about the case, which also contains a link to the case:

In his opinion for the majority in Blakely, Justice Scalia expresses concern about defendants possible being punished for an uncharged murder and possibly being punished based on weak hearsay testimony proven to a judge only by a preponderance of the evidence. If these issues truly concern Justice Scalia (and other members of the Blakely majority), the Supreme Court ought be interested in a cert. petition coming from today's decision by the Eleventh Circuit in US v. Baker, No. 00-13083 (11th Cir. Dec. 13, 2005) (available here). (Tech warning: the PDF of this opinion is causing Adobe to crash for me sometimes.) Starting at page 124 of an 137-page opinion(!!), the 11th Circuit in Baker affirms long sentences for a number of co-defendants in a large drug conspiracy on the basis of hearsay testimony concerning their involvement in an uncharged murder. Fans of Crawford debates will especially enjoy the court's work in footnote 68, where the Eleventh Circuit
explains why Crawford is to be inapplicable at sentencing.

Hamilton Bank jury in

The jury could not reach a verdict in the Hamilton Bank trial -- US v. Masferrer. Judge Moore declared a mistrial and set the retrial for April. The deliberations took some strange turns -- two jurors were excused for reading the newspaper, requiring two alternates to come into a jury room where there had been 3 days of deliberations. Nonetheless they were required to start considering the case from scratch. Then one of the alternates got sick and an ambulance had to be called to the courthouse. After all this, the jury hung. Defense lawyers were Howard and Scott Srebnick. Prosecutors were Ben Greenberg and Andrew Levy.

News and notes

1. Slow blogging -- sorry for being out of touch the last couple days. I've been going back and forth to Savannah preparing for a big trial scheduled for January 16. The lead prosecutor said in court last week that it was the largest case ever in Savannah. The case is just immense and it's taking up almost all of my time.

2. No bond for Cuban exiles in illegal weapons case -- From the AP: "U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn sided with prosecutors, upholding another judge's ruling denying bail for Santiago Alvarez, 64, and 63-year-old Osvaldo Mitat. They are charged in a seven-count grand jury indictment with illegal possession of machine guns and other weapons - some with serial numbers erased - that were allegedly stored at an apartment complex near Fort Lauderdale owned by Alvarez." "These weapons have no utilitarian purpose other than to harm others," Cohn said. Kendall Coffey, Alvarez's lawyer, said: "These aren't criminals. These are two honorable men. These men will be acquitted at trial."

3. Hamilton Bank trial -- no verdicts yet. Jury has been out a long time. The worst part of being a trial lawyer is waiting for the jury to come back. Terrible.

Middle District News

Hat-tip to one of our anonymous readers:

"Al-Arian acquittals across the board (with a sprinkling of hung counts) -- no convictions!
One defendant, Fariz, was represented by Fletcher Peacock's Middle District defenders."
Read Yahoo news

Press for Anonymous Miami Blog

Julie Kay writes about the Justice Building Blog in today's DBR. Here's the intro to the article:

The dishy Washington, D.C., court blog UnderneathTheirRobes.com, which talked up the “hotties” of the federal bench, disappeared after the assistant U.S. attorney who wrote it was outed last month. But a Miami version debuted last month, and it features the same menu of irreverent judicial gossip and satire, including a poll ranking the sexiest judge on the bench. It’s likely to rile lawyers, judges and elected officials — and be devoured by them. “Welcome to the unofficial Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building blog,” the anonymously written blog reads. “This site will be dedicated to justice building rumor, humor, innuendo and good stories about the judges and lawyers who labor in the world of Miami’s criminal justice.”

Our blog gets a mention:

But two other South Florida lawyer-bloggers, who put their names on their postings, doubt he’ll be able to maintain his anonymity very long. “We’ll see how long he stays in the closet,” said Miami criminal defense attorney David Markus. “E-mails can be traced.” That’s how the Washington blogger was outed. Predicted Miami criminal defense lawyer Brian Tannebaum: “He will be discovered.”

Anyone know who it is?

More judges?

Today's DBR (pass through link required) details a new bill in Congress to add 3 judges to our district, as well as splitting up the 9th Circuit. Although splitting the 9th is talked about every year and is very controversial, we would be the beneficiaries if the bill passes. I'm quoted in the article:

“We are the busiest and best district in the country and we could always use more judges,” said David Markus, vice president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. If new judgeships are created in South Florida, a battle over where they would be stationed is likely, said insiders. A push to post the new judges in Broward, Palm Beach or Martin counties, where the population is rapidly growing, is expected, although some would likely want the judges based in Miami. “We’d like to see them in our brand new courthouse which is opening next year,” Markus said.