What the Judge Ate for Breakfast » Trial coverage

Common Law: Preparing for trial

Ron Sylvester — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:06:38 +0000

Public defender Lacy Gilmour expects one of her cases to go to trial next week. Her client is accused of stealing money from an elderly woman. He said she loaned him the money for school. Gilmour explains what it takes to get ready for a criminal jury trial.

(Watch video after the jump)

Common Law: A quick verdict of ‘not guilty’

Ron Sylvester — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:32:37 +0000

Public defender Lacy Gilmour compares her case to that of the prosecution in a recent theft trial before Judge Kaufman, and how it won an acquittal for her client.

(Watch video after the jump)

Common Law, episode 14: anatomy of a trial

Ron Sylvester — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:30:18 +0000

Last week, I covered a mother and her male neighbor on trial for prostituting the woman’s child. Prosecutor Marc Bennett, a regular guest on Common Law, sat down afterwards to give us an inside look at the trial.

This week offers a series of videos with Bennett’s insights. While the case is repugnant, understanding these crimes is important, because it enables us to better protect our children. And as Bennett explains, the cases are tough on the prosecutor, too:

RICO update: Judge to hear request for new trial

Ron Sylvester — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:47:48 +0000

U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten today set a hearing on the defense motion for a new trial in the racketeering case for five convicted Crips gang members.

The defense has accused jurors of not being impartial in their deliberations. Last week, I talked to the presiding juror, who explained how the jury approached the case for a story published Sunday in the Eagle.

Marten has set a hearing for 9 a.m. June 29 to take up the arguments.

The men were convicted in April of conspiracy under the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. A sixth defendant was acquitted of racketeering charges but convicted of an ammunitions offense.

Truck passenger convicted of unintentional murder in nightclub parking lot deaths

Ron Sylvester — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:02:48 +0000

A man riding in a truck when it ran over and killed two people last summer is guilty of second-degree unintentional murder and voluntary manslaughter, a jury decided this afternoon.

The jury returned their verdict on lesser charges for Carlos Chavez-Aguilar, 22, who had gone on trial accused of second-degree intentional murder.

Second-degree unintentional murder is a reckless action taken with extreme disregard for human safety. Voluntary manslaughter is a sudden death occurring in the heat of passion.

Chavez-Aguilar is set for sentencing May 15 before Sedgwick County District Judge Joseph Bribiesca. Chavez-Aguilar’s lawyer, Brad Sylvester, said he plans to ask for a new trial, after raising objections to Bribiesca allowing gang testimony.

Police said a fight broke around 2 a.m. on Aug. 23 in the parking lot of the El Alacran Club at Harry and Seneca. An officer with the Wichita police gang unit testified that members of the Surenos 13, Vato Loco Boys and North Side Gangsters started the fight.

A pickup truck drove around the corner of the building and through the parking lot, killing Juan Martinez, 22, and Marilyn Arreola, 54. Carlos Chavez-Aguilar also was convicted of aggravated battery in the injury of a third person.

Rene Chavez-Aguilar, 20, charged with driving the truck, faces trial April 27.

(Note: Brad Sylvester and I are not related)

The book of RICO: jury instructions of biblical proportations

Ron Sylvester — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:26:28 +0000

The 89 pages of jury instructions in the RICO Crips trial had lawyers comparing it to parts of the Bible in today’s closing arguments.

“We have jury instructions longer than the Psalms, except there is no poetry in them,” defense lawyer Paul McCausland said of the jury instructions given Friday by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten.

That was just one of several biblical references by defense lawyers trying to explain complicated charges stemming from RICO, the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act.

Lengthy legal instructions frequently lose jurors with complex vocabulary, grammar and legal rhetoric, experts say.

“Bad jury instructions aren’t just ignored, they can also actively confuse jurors,” said Anne Reed, a trial lawyer and jury consultant from Milwaukee, in a discussion on Twitter.

While she hadn’t seen the packet for this trial, I asked Reed her definition of “bad” jury instructions.

“Frankly most instructions qualify,” she answered.

Dennis C. Elias, a social psychologist who runs a Phoenix jury consulting firm and blogs about juror issues, agreed that jurors don’t always understand complicated instructions.

“Jurors don’t share vocab, context, logic path, or meaning with authors of instructions,” Elias tweeted. “Confusion reigns as result.”

Weather stalls RICO trial

Ron Sylvester — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:23:57 +0000

Weather interfered with the continuation of the federal racketeering trial against six accused Crips gang members this morning.

As sleet peppered the windows of the federal courthouse, U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten halted the trial and sent jurors home under the threat of more severe winter storms this afternoon.

Marten spent nearly 2 1/2 hours reading 89 pages of legal instructions, upon which jurors will base their deliberations.

With the storm expected to pass this weekend, Marten recessed the trial until 9 a.m. Monday for lawyers to present their closing arguments.

The charges stem from the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO.

We will continue live courtroom updates Monday, via Twitter.

Jurors to get RICO case Friday

Ron Sylvester — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:28:13 +0000

Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Friday in the case of six men charged with running organized crime through the Crips street gang in Wichita.

After U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten gives legal instructions and lawyers present closing arguments, the jury will get the case.

Marten gave jurors the day off Thursday, as he worked with the lawyers on finalizing the legal instructions that will guide the jury in reaching its verdict.

Follow live updates on the trial via Twitter.

Verbal volleys from the Tiller trial

Ron Sylvester — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:10:52 +0000

On television court dramas, witnesses give clear answers to direct questions. After all, the entire story has to wrap by the top of the hour. In real life, testimony isn’t always so easy.

Put yourself in the jurors’ seat for this exchange between Kristen Neuhaus and prosecutor Barry Disney during the trial of George Tiller Monday. Tiller is charged with performing abortions in an illegal business relationship with Neuhaus, another doctor.

In the following video, Neuhaus appears to take pains to keep from saying she “worked” for Tiller, even has she compares what she did in Wichita to a doctor she “worked for” in Kansas City, Kan. This video lasts less than three minutes. Jurors have had to listen to days of this kind of testimony:

Retweets from the RICO gang trial

Ron Sylvester — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:40:24 +0000

A cool part about covering a trial via Twitter is seeing reaction from those following the coverage. That’s the “social” part of the Internet social networking experience. But there’s been an interesting twist in the coverage of the federal racketeering trial of six accused Crips gang members.

Not only is it a first here in federal court, it’s the first trial I’ve had “retweets.” Retweet is Twitter-speak for someone repeating one of the short, 140-character posts to their followers — passing it along to a broader audience.

A few of the posts people have “retweeted” (RT) during the past week of testimony — from Barnegat, N.J. to Seattle:

Alex73013: @rsylvester “Smith initially said he didn’t know anything about the robbery, but he eventually admitted to robbing the store to police.” …

(Police said one of the defendants changed his story during an interview)

LindsayGriffith: Oops! RT @rsylvester: Court just learned that one of the jurors realized she’s a cousin to the fingerprint examiner who testified earlier.

(U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten questioned the juror and later determined she didn’t know the witness well enough to affect her ability to be impartial).

DBallardReisch: @rsylvester Not really clear how anyone remembers what happened in 1995!

(Prosecutors are chronicling 16 years of crimes they say show an organized criminal enterprise by the defendants and witnesses are having to testify years after the incidents)

EmilyMedvec: RT @RSylvester “There was a man in the bathroom, who she said she didn’t know.”

(from testimony about a home invasion)

VBalasubramani: “To get OG status,’you’ve got to put in work.’ That includes riding in retaliation of the enemies.” (@rsylvester – from trial)

(OG stands for “original gangster)

Continue following the trial this week at the box on the left or on my Twitter feed.