Not only a good ruling from the Fourth Circuit, but a good unanimous en banc ruling: the Constitution does not permit the government to freeze untainted assets needed by a criminal defendant to prepare for trial [U.S. v. Chamberlain, with NACDL/Cato amicus brief]
2 Comments
That is good news for the bank accounts of trial lawyers.
Bob
It is good news for criminal defense lawyers, at least, who are a different group from the trial lawyers who handle civil cases. It would be a shame to railroad people to punishment without opportunity for a defense just to keep their lawyers from getting paid, though.