Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Audio of Oral Arguments before First Circuit Now Available

The First Circuit has started to make available online audio of oral arguments, joining a few other federal appellate courts. The access to the First Circuit's oral argument feed is currently available only in RSS format, and the audio files themselves are in mp3 format. You can access the available oral argument audio files by clicking here.

Hat Tip to How Appealing.

First Circuit Request for Comments on Reappointment of Joseph Laws, Federal Public Defender for the District of Puerto Rico

The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has published a Request for Comments Relating to the Reappointment of Joseph C. Laws, Jr., Federal Public Defender for the District of Puerto Rico.

Joe is a Charter Member of PRACDL and was our first President. At that time Joe was in private practice, having already served his own stint at the Federal Public Defender's Office years back under the stewardship of the Grand Master - don Gerardo Ortíz del Rivero.

The relationship between the Federal Public Defender's Office for the District of Puerto Rico and PRACDL was built into our own by-laws, by assuring that the Federal Public Defender was a permanent Board member of PRACDL. Article III, Sec. B of PRACDL's By-Laws establishes that:

The Board shall consist of nine (9) directors. One of the directors shall be the Federal Public Defender or a designee, provided that this person fulfills the requirements set forth in section D(6) of Article II of these by-laws. The remaining eight directors will be elected by the members eligible to vote at the annual meeting.

After all, it was at the Federal Public Defender's Office in Old San Juan where a group of nineteen criminal defense lawyers met for a number of days to organize PRACDL. Joe Laws and I also met with Alan Ellis -then NACDL's President- who traveled to Puerto Rico to assure that PRACDL got off to a good start.

We have grown, and that special relationship between PRACDL and the Federal Public Defender's Office has continued. We co-sponsor CLE courses, and try to always maintain a common front in addressing issues in which there is a commonality of interest, such as addressing concerns with the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Attorney's Office to help us in our work. As the Federal Public Defender, Joe Laws has been instrumental in maintaining this common front to the problems facing all criminal defense lawyers practicing before the District of Puerto Rico. Because he has worn the various hats of an Assistant Federal Public Defender, a private practitioner and more recently that of the Federal Public Defender, Joe has made it a point to look out for the well-being of all. Even as a member of the Court's CJA Committee, where I have the privilege of serving with him, he has always looked out for the interests of CJA Panel members, understanding the problems we face, while at the same time constantly insisting that CJA Panel members must be highly qualified.

I will be writing my comments in support of Joe's reappointment as the Federal Public Defender with pleasure, and I invite all criminal defense lawyers practicing in our district to take the time to write their own comments as well.

Legal Chat to Discuss Crack Resentencings in the District of Puerto Rico

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.

District of Puerto Rico Administrative Order re: Implementation of Crack Retroactivity Guideline

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).
 

Is the First Circuit Recognizing Greater Deference Due District Court's Sentencing Decisions?

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.

Federal Criminal Appellate Practice Writing Seminar

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.

Judge Gertner Orders Government to Pay $101.7 Million

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.

Chat with Judge Gertner on Sentencing Issues

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).

PRACDL to Propose Changes and Offer Assistance to Court's Mentoring Program for New CJA Panel Members

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.

Rachel Brill Appointed to Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure

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!