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Mourning Robert Hooker
With sadness it is reported that Robert J. Hooker, a public defender and member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), was killed as a result of an automobile accident. Bob’s career included service as a Superior Court judge and as a criminal defense lawyer in private practice.
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U.N. Procurement Official Gets 8 Years
A press release of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York, states that "the former Chief of the Commodity Procurement Section within the Procurement Division of the United Nations ("UN"), was sentenced … in Manhattan federal court to 97 months in prison on his convictions for accepting hundreds of thousands of
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Skilling Hearing – Sounds Like it Wasn’t a Hot Bench
Reading the reports from those who were there, it sounds like the Skilling bench was a quiet one. But then again – a lot of the argument dealt with "honest services" under the mail fraud statute. The mail fraud statute is an 1872 statute that was a section in a revision of the Postal Act.
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Attorney General Firings – Not Merely Politics?
Ari Shapiro at NPR’s All Things Considered has a story "Justice Probes Lawyer’s Dismissal Amid Gay Rumor." Discrimination is appalling, but discrimination by the DOJ is frightening. After all this is the office that administers the Civil Rights Division. What is stated on the job announcements for DOJ? Looking through job description notices at DOJ
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They’re Expecting A Crowd for Skilling
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has special instructions on its website about the Skilling oral argument set for today. For example, it states "[n]o one will be allowed to enter any of the courtrooms prior to 1:00 p.m., April 2, 2008, to allow court staff to set up additional chairs in the East Court
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Wednesday Is Jeffrey Skilling Day
This Wednesday is the day that the Fifth Circuit will listen to arguments in the case of United States v. Skilling. Although the briefs are filled with many arguments, the ones focused upon in the oral argument will likely be fewer in number. That’s typical, as you can’t hit everything in a time-tight oral argument.
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Congressperson’s Office Covered By “Speech & Debate Clause”
The Supreme Court refused to re-examine a D.C. Circuit court opinion regarding an issue that arose following a search of Louisiana Representative William Jefferson’s office. The D.C. Circuit had ruled that the search was improper as it violated the U.S. Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. The Court of Appeals held that "[t]he search of Congressman
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In the News
Still No Verdict in the Wecht Case – See Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – ‘Hung Jury’ Question Suggests Holdouts in Wecht Trial; Tom Withers, Wecht Trial Jury Deliberations at the Federal Criminal Defense Blog (discussing the deliberation process in this case) Detroit Mayor – Who Will Judge -Detroit News – Prosecutor to Oppose Judge Picked for Detroit
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Guilty Plea – Defense Department Official
A DOJ Press Release tells of the plea entered by a defense department official in an espionage case related to China. Pleading to a "one-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to disclose national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it, in violation of 18 U.S.C., Sections 793(d)," the press release states that
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Should Fraudulent Billing By Attorneys Be Mail Fraud
The Wall Street Jrl (here) reports on an attorney from a major U.S. law firm pleading to a one count Information to the crime of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. s 1341 for engaging "in a fraudulent scheme to charge the Firm and its clients hundreds of thousands of dollars for personal and non-existent business expenses."
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