This coming Friday, February 29, 2008 at 4:00 p.m., PRACDL and the Federal Public Defender's Office will co-host a conference to discuss the crack guidelines amendment and the retroactivity of same, as well as the District Court's Administrative Directive dealing with these. This will be held at the Federal Public Defender's Offices (4th Floor) and is open to all PRACDL members and Assistant Federal Public Defenders.
Chief Judge José A. Fusté, District of Puerto Rico, has entered an Administrative Order dealing with the implementation of the Crack Retroactivity Guideline in the District of Puerto Rico. See Misc. No. 08-31 (JAF) (Dkt. 1).
In United States v. Milo, No. 06-2185 (1st Cir., Oct. 30, 2007), the First vacates and remands a sentence of time served (about 15 days) imposed by Judge Gertner on a defendant who cooperated and was contrite. But the First leaves open to the District Court to either explain more her sentence or to resentence Milo to a higher term. Throughout the opinion one gets the feeling that Chief Judge Boudin is recognizing a greater deference due to the district court's choice of sentence, and that is very good news.
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the members of the court's CJA Education Committee will be holding a court-sponsored one-day writing seminar for both experienced brief writers and less seasoned criminal appellate practitioners on Friday, November 9, at the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, PR, from 8:45 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. Here is the program, and the registration form. The registration deadline is Friday, October 26.
By remaining silent as to their knowledge that a witness was lying, the FBI caused the conviction on murder charges against several defendants, and ensured they spent decades in prison. As the NY Times (AP) reports here:
A federal judge Thursday ordered the government to pay more than $101 million in the case of four men who spent decades in prison for a 1965 murder they didn't commit after the FBI withheld evidence of their innocence.
The FBI encouraged perjury, helped frame the four men and withheld for more than three decades information that could have cleared them, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said in issuing her ruling Thursday.
She called the government's argument that the FBI had no duty to get involved in the state case ''absurd.''
Peter Limone, Joseph Salvati and the families of the two other men who died in prison had sued the federal government for malicious prosecution.
They argued that Boston FBI agents knew mob hitman Joseph ''The Animal'' Barboza lied when he named the men as killers in the 1965 death of Edward Deegan. They said Barboza was protecting a fellow FBI informant, Vincent ''Jimmy'' Flemmi, who was involved.
The four men convicted on Barboza's lies were treated as ''acceptable collateral damage'' because the FBI's priority at the time was taking down the Mafia, their attorneys said.
A Justice Department lawyer had argued that federal authorities couldn't be held responsible for the results of a state prosecution and had no duty to share information with the officials who prosecuted Limone, Salvati, Henry Tameleo and Louis Greco.
''The FBI's misconduct was clearly the sole cause of this conviction,'' the judge said Thursday. ''The government's position is, in a word, absurd.''
''No lost liberty is dispensable. We have fought wars over this principle. We are still fighting these wars,'' Gertner told the packed courtroom.
Salvati and Limone were exonerated in 2001 after FBI memos dating back to the Deegan case surfaced, showing the men had been framed by Barboza. The memos were made public during a Justice Department task force probe of the FBI's relationship with gangsters and FBI informants James ''Whitey'' Bulger and Stephen ''The Rifleman'' Flemmi.
Hat Tip to Rachel Brill for pointing this out to us.
UPDATE: You can find Judge Gertner's lengthy opinion in Limone, et al. v. US here.
PRACDL invites all defense attorneys to attend a chat with U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner on sentencing issues, on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 4:00 p.m., at the Chief Judge's Courtroom. This is a special treat you should not miss out on. There is no cost for attending. This will be followed by a cocktails at El Deli (cash bar).
With a view towards improving the Mentoring Program provided by the District of Puerto Rico to some of the new CJA Panel members, PRACDL's Board has been meeting and working out a proposal to present to the Court's CJA Committee, presided by Honorable Aida M. Delgado-Colón. At the gist of the proposal to be submitted, is the idea of putting the Mentor back into the Mentoring Program to interact with the Mentoree, rather than simply have an attorney attend a series of Court events. Moreover, the proposal will include participation for both in-court and out-of-court events, such as witness and client interviews, and motion practice. And PRACDL will make available to the Court a list of PRACDL Members willing to act as Mentors.
PRACDL Charter Member Rachel Brill has been appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to serve on the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. This is a great distinction and honor.
Rachel has served as PRACDL Treasurer, 1992-2004; and as a Board Member, 2004-2005. She is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer. She is in charge --on behalf of NACDL-- of assisting counsel here in San Juan in preparing for oral argument before the First Circuit. She has chaired PRACDL's CLE Committee and is also a member of the Amicus Committee and our Lawyer's Assistance Task Force. More recently, she has been involved with other PRACDL members in valuable workshops for criminal defense lawyers. She has served as Professor (1993-2002) and Adjunct Professor (2004-present), at the Federal Criminal Litigation Clinic, University of Puerto Rico.
Rachel, PRACDL congratulates you!
PRACDL member Bruce J. McGiverin and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcos López have been appointed to serve as U.S. Magistrate Judges in the District of Puerto Rico. They will occupy the vacancies left when Hon. Aida M. Delgado-Colón and Hon. Gustavo A. Gelpí were appointed as U.S. District Judges.
Our best wishes to both in their new positions.
These appointments complete a year of new appointments to the Federal Bench in Puerto Rico, with three new U.S. District Judges, and now two new Magistrate Judges.
The Senate, acting pursuant to a unanimous consent agreement, voted on September 25, 2006 to confirm Francisco A. Besosa as U.S. District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico. The nomination met no opposition and the vote was 87-0. Judge Besosa will occupy the vacancy left by now Senior U.S. District Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez.
Judge Besosa is a graduate of Brown University (A.B., 1971) and The Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., 1979). He also served as an Assistant United States Attorney (Civil Division) in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico from 1983-1986. At the time of his nomination he directed the Litigation and Trial Practice Department at the firm of Adsuar Muñiz Goyco & Besosa, P.S.C. He has been a member of the Committee to Revise the Local Rules of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and in 1993 he was appointed to the Court's United States Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico appointed Mr. Besosa to the Bar Examination Review Board of Puerto Rico. Judge Besosa also served as an officer in the United States Army's Military Intelligence Branch, was discharged honorably in 1976 as a Captain and was awarded the Army's Meritorious Service Medal.
Everyone who knows him, including myself, praises his intellect and integrity.
PRACDL welcomes Judge Besosa to the federal bench and wishes him all the best in this new role in life.
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