Friday, July 07, 2006

No bond for old Mafia suspects

Here's the intro from the Sun-Sentinel article on the bond denial in the South Florida Genovese crime family:

A federal judge denied bond Friday to the alleged boss of the Genovese crime family's South Florida operations and three others awaiting trial on charges of extortion, robbery, and money laundering. He will consider bond for another man.U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer denied bail for Renaldi ``Ray'' Ruggiero, 72, whom federal prosecutors identified as a Genovese capo or captain, and three of his co-defendants--Joseph Dennis Colasacco, 54, Charles Steinberg, 30, and Mitchell Weissman, 54, said Weissman's attorney John Contini.

Seltzer, prosecutors and attorneys for another defendant, Francis O'Donnell, 47, will continue negotiations for his release on Monday, said Theresa Van Vliet, one of his attorneys. O'Donnell is the head of Coach Industries Group, a financial services company.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Ken Lay is not a convicted criminal

Because he died before his direct appeal was final, Ken Lay's conviction is technically abated, which means that his entire criminal case is treated as though it never existed. (The conviction and sentence of a defendant is vacated when he dies if his appeal is yet to be decided. See Schreiber v. Sharpless, 110 U.S. 76,80 (1884)). My first case at the Federal Defender's office involved this issue, albiet in a different way.

UPDATE -- White Collar Crime Blog has more about the law in the Fifth Circuit:

In a recent Fifth Circuit decision, United States v. Estate of Parsons, 367 F.3d 409 (5th Cir. 2004), the court explained that "the appeal does not just disappear, and the case is not merely dismissed. Instead, everything associated with the case is extinguished, leaving the defendant as if he had never been indicted or convicted." In Parsons, the court vacated a forfeiture order, which means that the government's forfeiture claim against Lay for $43.5 million will be dismissed. The Fifth Circuit explained the rationale for the rule: "The finality principle reasons that the state should not label one as guilty until he has exhausted his opportunity to appeal. The punishment principle asserts that the state should not punish a dead person or his estate." An interesting question is whether one can still describe Lay as having been convicted of a crime, at least in a technical sense, because the law no longer recognizes there having been any criminal case initiated against him.

Bail denied to Miami seven

Magistrate Judge Bandstra denied bond to the suspects charged with plotting to bomb the Sears Tower. Here's the report from Vanessa Blum:


MIAMI - U.S. Magistrate Judge Ted Bandstra on Wednesday denied bond for six of the seven South Florida men arrested last month on charges they planned to bomb the Sears Tower in Chicago and the FBI building in Miami.

Bandstra called the allegations "serious" and said no conditions of release could ensure the safety of the community.

``The charges against each of the defendants are serious charges and constitute counts of violence,'' Bandstra stated, adding that it was ``not relevant that the plans appear to be beyond the abilities of the defendants.''

A lawyer for the plot's alleged ringleader Narseal Batiste called the government's case a "set-up."

"This case is essentially something the government set up to knock it down," said attorney John Wylie.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy 4th of July...

... and happy one year birthday to the Southern District of Florida Blog.

We turned one this weekend. This was the first post, urging President Bush to appoint a Floridian to the Supreme Court. I'm shocked that no one listened! But since then, our readership has grown. We're averaging over 175 hits a day during the week. And we've had 32,322 total visits as of this post. Pretty incredible.

And since that first post, our Supreme Court has dramatically changed and the Southern District has continued to get the biggest and best cases in the country. On a personal note, I've started my own firm and have added another child to the Markus clan... It's been a fun year.

Thanks to everyone who reads, emails me with tips, and posts comments.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Miami 7 stuff

The motion to disqualify the FPD was denied. For now, John Wylie is still in the case.

The bond hearing was continued until Wednesday... Here are the details of what happened so far. Looks a little to me like the Government was pre-trying its case because of the bad press it has been getting. I've never seen a bond hearing where the Government shows so many of its cards. Typically the strategy is to show as little as possible because the discovery rules are so restrictive. But here where there have been so many questions about this case, the Government must have figured that it needed to present its case now. The defense gets to present its side on Wedndesday...