RICO update: Judge to hear request for new trial

June 16, 20095:47 p.m.

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.

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Back to RICO: juror discusses deliberations

June 11, 20098:00 a.m.

I went on medical leave two months ago, awaiting the verdict of a racketeering trial involving accused members of the Crips street gang. After sitting through the trial for weeks, the verdict came the morning I was having knee surgery.

The jury convicted five of the six men of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, also known as RICO. The sixth was convicted on an ammunitions charge.

A case such as this doesn’t stop with the verdict, however. Since the trial, one man has been sentenced to 10 years. Defense lawyers began filing motions asking U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten to strike down the verdicts and questioning the deliberations by the jury.

This week, I talked to the presiding juror about those deliberations.

He said the lengthy legal instructions kept them from reaching their verdict for days, but that they carefully considered the charges. (He asked that his name not be used for his safety, because of the gang nature of the trial.)

Here’s what he said about his experience on the jury and the deliberations:

Last week, Marteaus Carter received a 10-year prison sentence. Carter didn’t go to trial. He pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to violate RICO. He also pleaded guilty to persuaded another adult person to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution.

Other sentencing hearings are set in the coming months.

Meanwhile, I’m back to digging through court files and covering hearings live on Twitter.

As for the knee, I’m still limping but getting better.

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The book of RICO: jury instructions of biblical proportations

March 30, 20096:26 p.m.

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.”

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Weather stalls RICO trial

March 27, 20091:23 p.m.

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.

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Recapped: A glossary of gang slang

March 12, 20094:09 p.m.

The Crips trial going on the past couple of weeks has revealed a life within our city where violence visits regularly. Not only are details of testimony about the gang lifestyle foreign to many, so is its language. You don’t need the Urban Dictionary to keep track. I’ve compiled a list, according to witness testimony the past few weeks.

  • OG: original gangster.
  • Jumped in: being beaten up as an initiation to joining a gang. You can also leave a gang by being “jumped out.”
  • Blessed in: being taken into the gang on the word of a current member.
  • Do work: committing crimes, including robberies and drive-by shootings.
  • Rock it up: make powder cocaine into crack cocaine using baking soda and boiling water.
  • Half a bird: 10 ounces of crack.
  • Snow white: cocaine.
  • Greens: marijuana; (syn.) trees.
  • CK and/or BK: Initials for “Crip killer” or “Blood killer” used by members of those rival gangs.
  • Shot caller: A gang member, usually an OG who gives orders to younger members.
  • Spot: a house or apartment run by a gang member for selling drugs and stashing guns and money.
This has caused questioning such as the following exchange between lawyer Carl Maughan and witness Prentice Byrd this week:

Q. You testified about “OG” meaning original gangster. There is also some other terms, right? “BG,” what does that mean?

A. Baby gangster.

Q. That’s baby gangster. “YG?”

A. Young gangster.

(transcribed by Jana Hoelscher, court reporter)

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Retweets from the RICO gang trial

March 10, 20094:40 p.m.

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.

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