According to Forfeiture Endangers American Rights, the U.S. Dept. of Justice is proposing revisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which would facilitate property forfeiture. The FEAR site links to the new draft rules, and to critiiques of those rules.
Posts Tagged ‘crime and punishment’
Antitrust enforcers get wiretap/bug powers
Quietly slipped into the reauthorization of the Patriot Act: first-time-ever authority for the Justice Department to engage in wiretapping and bugging of private premises for purposes of going after antitrust violators. The Patriot Act reauthorization was advertised as an emergency measure needed to combat international terrorism; very little was said about any supposed emergency need to enact miscellaneous prosecutorial wish lists at the expense of civil liberties. (Pamela A. MacLean, “Bugging the boardroom”, National Law Journal, Mar. 1; Skip Oliva, Voluntary Trade Council, Mar. 10 and Mar. 11; Reason “Hit and Run”, Mar. 10; Open Market (new Competitive Enterprise Institute blog), Mar. 10).
“Court bars rapist from suing victim”
Connecticut:
A Superior Court judge in New London Friday permanently barred a convicted rapist who had harassed his victim with a series of legal actions from filing further lawsuits without the permission of a judge. Judge Clarance J. Jones issued a permanent injunction against Allen Adgers, who is serving a 13-year sentence for kidnapping and raping his former wife at knife-point, said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose office sought the order….
[The wife] moved six times, but Adgers was able to learn her new address each time by filing a legal action that resulted in her being served with a subpoena. As part of the subpoena process, Adgers would get a receipt recording the address where service was made. He sent her harassing letters, which has added four years to his original 13-year sentence. But he still was allowed to force his former wife into court. Acting as his own attorney, the rapist was able to question and taunt his victim….
Blumenthal said that Adgers, in addition to harassing his victim, also filed 16 frivolous lawsuits against government officials since 2001. That will end with the order issued Friday.
(Mark Pazniokas, “Judge Halts Rape Victim’s Ordeal”, Hartford Courant, Feb. 25). Jonathan B. Wilson, who spotted the case, says one lesson — given that it took a situation this extreme to trigger an injunction — is that the system is likely to allow a great deal of litigation abuse in less facially outrageous cases: “So long as plaintiffs have the capacity of filng suit and engaging in discovery without satisfying any minimal standard of justification, unscrupulous plaintiffs will be able to use the compulsive power of the courts to impose frustration and costs on defendants.” (Feb. 26).
“Man Charged In Prostitution Ring Sues Clients”
Partners in crime dept.: “A Dutch man who served time in jail and was deported for running one of the largest escort services in the Southeast has sued six former customers.” Arthur Vanmoor, 46, who used aliases such as “Big Pimpin’ Pappy” and whose South Florida enterprise “accounted for up to 90 percent of the escort service listings in Broward County’s 2002 Yellow Pages”, claims his customers got him in trouble by breaking the law and violating their contracts with him. “To pay the $245-per-hour escort fee, the men signed a credit card slip that said, ‘Cardholder states that this transaction is not for illegal activity,’ said Vanmoor’s attorney, Montgomery Sibley.” (AP/NBC6.net, Feb. 27).
Montgomery Sibley, attorney for Vanmoor, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s “The Situation” Mar. 1 to explain his client’s case; see this amusing account with video. A Google search reveals that a Florida attorney named Montgomery Blair Sibley, proceeding pro se, sued federal judicial officials including the nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court (including “Steven” Breyer) demanding a million dollars in damages from the Justices individually for various purported offenses which included not granting certiorari review to a domestic dispute Sibley was involved in. Sibley took his case up to the Eleventh Circuit (PDF), but did not prevail.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, “Vanmoor is known for his litigious nature. In the past decade, he has been a plaintiff or defendant in 29 lawsuits in Broward County alone. He has sued businesses that challenged him, police departments that investigated him, an assistant state attorney who prosecuted him and journalists who reported on him.” (Sean Gardiner, “Man charged in Broward prostitution ring sues his clients”, Feb. 27). The alleged johns have not been named in the latest round of news coverage, so far as a cursory search of coverage reveals. One wonders whether the possibility of such publicity might be one factor influencing the prospective settlement value, if any, of the new round of suits.
Don’t use sarcasm…
…in your public speaking or memos or e-mails, or a prosecutor or plaintiffs’ attorney (not to mention a major newspaper) might try to persuade others to take you literally.
Nancy Grace
The CNN legal commentator, famous for her throw-away-the-key opinions on criminal justice matters, is perhaps equally famous for her own backstory as a crime victim. But how well does her version of that story stand up to scrutiny? (Rebecca Dana, “Did Nancy Grace, TV Crimebuster, Muddy Her Myth?” New York Observer, Mar. 6). Take it away, Prof. Bainbridge…
Mohammed Aqueel Hussain
Mohammed Aqueel Hussain, 26, of Burnley, Lancashire, was on parole from a 2001 conviction for wounding, when, while driving a stolen VW Golf with a provisional license (he hadn’t had a lesson in ten years) and no insurance, he killed a three-year-old girl, Levi Bleasdale, in a hit-and-run accident that he never reported. Hussain pled guilty to careless driving and handling stolen goods, and was sentenced to twelve weeks, leading Tony Blair, among others, to call for stricter sentencing. (BBC, Feb. 22; Mirror, Feb. 24; TimesOnline Law Blog, Feb. 22).
Overlawyered is pleased to be the only American blog on the TimesOnline’s blogroll; one can find our UK coverage here.
“With a Wink, Alleged Plot To Foil a Trial Set in Motion”
Did an attorney conspire with his client to assist his jury tampering in a murder trial? So alleges the now-convicted murderer’s wife, who has plead guilty to obstruction of justice and is the star witness against her husband and the juror; the attorney denies wrongdoing and has not yet been charged. (Henri E. Cauvin, Washington Post, Feb. 22).
Soldier wins judgement against Al Qaida financier
By extending civil liability to acts of terrorism overseas, the Patriot Act has unleashed a new weapon of mass destruction at Al Qaida: The Plaintiff’s Bar. Last Friday, they achieved their first victory. (Dawn House, “GI injured in Afghan war wins lawsuit”, Salt Lake Tribune, Feb 18)
Overprosecuted
This is a bit off topic from civil litigation, but Tom Kirkendall, a Houston attorney following the Enron trial, makes the case that the Enron prosecution team or “task force” has been pushing the envelope of prosecution tactics, with disturbing results.
In an unprecedented move, the Task Force has named over 100 co-conspirators in the case. So, the potential definitely exists for substantial testimony about out-of-court statements going to the jury without the defense ever having an opportunity to cross-examine the persons who made the alleged statements. Moreover, fingering unindicted co-conspirators is an equally effective technique for the Task Force to prevent testimony that is favorable to the defense because persons named as unindicted co-conspirators are likely to the assert their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and thus, not be defense witnesses during the trial. Thus, the Task Force’s liberal use of the co-conspirator tag has a double-whammy effect — not only does it allow the Task Force to use out-of-court statements against defendants without having the declarant of the statements subjected to cross-examination, it has also effectively prevented previous Enron-related defendants from obtaining crucial exculpatory testimony from alleged co-conspirators who have elected to take the Fifth and declined to testify.
Kirkendall argues that despite these tactics, the task force botched the broadband prosecution, and already seem to be making mistakes in the Lay/Skilling trial. He has a lot of fun, in particular, with the task force’s indictment against Lay and Skilling, which was apparently so poorly written that the prosecution itself has petitioned the court not to let the indictment be referred to in cross examination. (Tom Kirkendall, Houston’s Clear Thinkers, Jan 27)
Almost makes you nostalgic for Marcia Clark. But probably not Janet Reno. Over at CoyoteBlog, I wonder whether NJ prosecutors are more interested in upholding the law or getting front page pub in the NHL betting case.