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Minn. court: Defendant may withdraw guilty plea
Court Watch |
2011/05/17 03:34
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals says defendants may withdraw a guilty plea if they are not told a conviction could result in deportation.
The court on Monday sided with Rene Reyes Campos. Campos said if he knew he risked being deported for a conviction for simple robbery for the benefit of a gang, he never would have pleaded guilty.
Campos was 17 when he was charged in Hennepin County in 2009, and had been a lawful U.S. resident for about seven years. He agreed to plead guilty as an adult and get a stayed sentence. He was not told the plea could affect his immigration status. Last June, Campos moved to withdraw his plea. |
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Hedge fund founder convicted in inside-trade case
Court Watch |
2011/05/13 09:30
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A former Wall Street titan was convicted Wednesday of making a fortune by coaxing a crew of corporate tipsters into giving him an illegal edge on blockbuster trades in technology and other stocks — what prosecutors called the largest insider trading case ever involving hedge funds.
Raj Rajaratnam was convicted of five conspiracy counts and nine securities fraud charges at the closely watched trial in federal court in Manhattan. The jury had deliberated since April 25, and at one point was forced to start over again when one juror dropped out due to illness.
Prosecutors alleged the 53-year-old Rajaratnam made profits and avoided losses totaling more than $60 million from illegal tips. His Galleon Group funds, they said, became a multibillion-dollar success at the expense of ordinary stock investors who didn't have advance notice of the earnings of public companies and of mergers and acquisitions.
A New York jury has quietly finished its second week without a verdict in the trial of a one-time billionaire hedge fund founder accused of using inside information to make tens of millions of dollars illegally.
Prosecutors say Rajaratnam used a network of friends and old college buddies to cheat on Wall Street. His lawyers say he only traded based on public information. The replacement of a juror two days ago forced the jury to restart its work. |
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Delaware pediatrician waives right to jury trial
Court Watch |
2011/05/09 09:02
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A judge, not a jury, will decide the fate of a former Delaware pediatrician charged with sexually assaulting scores of young patients over more than a decade.
At a hearing Monday, a judge granted Earl Bradley's request to waive his right to a jury trial.
The judge also indicated that because selecting a jury untainted by media reports is no longer an issue, Bradley's trial may be moved from Wilmington back to Sussex County, where he is alleged to have committed his crimes.
Also, since defense attorneys do not intend to argue that Bradley is guilty but mentally ill, the judge said a psychiatric evaluation of Bradley that he had previously ordered is no longer necessary. |
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Court close to seating Blagojevich jury
Court Watch |
2011/04/28 09:06
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Jury selection in the retrial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is entering the home stretch after dragging on for longer than expected.
Thursday should be the last day of questioning of would-be jurors by U.S. District Judge James Zagel. He told attorneys Wednesday that opening arguments would take place Monday.
After a week of jury selection, 42 people are in the pool of potential jurors. Zagel says he only needs a few more before picking the final 12 jurors and six alternates.
One person the judge agreed to dismiss was a woman who had tickets to The Oprah Winfrey Show. She had worried jury duty would force her to miss it.
Another person bumped was a school teacher who the judge said displayed terrible grammar in his questionnaire. |
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Treasury risks overpaying law firms
Court Watch |
2011/04/18 09:57
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The Treasury Department paid out more than $27 million to law firms overseeing the financial bailouts without requiring detailed bills or questioning the incomplete records that the lawyers provided, a government watchdog says.
Treasury's current contracts and fee bill review practices create an unacceptable risk that Treasury, and therefore the American taxpayer, is overpaying for legal services, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said in a report issued Thursday.
Treasury could not have adequately gauged whether the fees were reasonable because the records are so sparse, the report says.
The report criticizes so-called block billing, in which law firms submit vague and inadequate descriptions of work, and administrative charges — all of which should have been questioned before payment, the report says.
Treasury staff failed to question the charges for work that was described vaguely, the report says. |
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Judge Considers $30M Dairy Antitrust Settlement
Court Watch |
2011/04/18 09:57
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A federal judge in Vermont is considering moving forward with a partial settlement of an anti-trust lawsuit in which national dairy processor Dean Foods would pay some northeast dairy farmers $30 million.
But U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss said Friday she may defer a decision on part of the settlement that would require Dean Foods of Dallas to change its milk-buying practices in the region for 30 months by buying milk from independent farmers, a controversial provision that the plaintiffs say would jump start competition but a national dairy cooperative says would harm some farmers.
I am likely to sever the settlement, Reiss told lawyers during a hearing on Friday.
Farmers have complained for years that Dean, the cooperative Dairy Farmers of America and its marketing affiliate Dairy Marketing Services have come to dominate the milk-buying market and have held down prices paid to farmers.
By agreeing to the settlement, Dean Foods does not admit any liability and continues to maintain that it has not broken any laws, Dean Foods' attorney Paul Friedman said Friday.
It settles a class action lawsuit filed in 2009, which means 5,000 to 10,000 farmers could get a share of the settlement.
During the more than two-hour hearing, both sides urged Reiss to approve the deal, which plaintiff lawyer Kit Pierson said was reached after extraordinarily difficult negotiations with Dean Foods. |
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