Stan in Roll Call re: Effects of Ring Hung Jury
Last week’s mistrial in the case of former House-aide-turned-lobbyist Kevin Ring could open the door to more defendants to challenge Justice Department public corruption indictments, legal experts say.
“It’s like a traffic violation. If you pull over a bunch of drivers and everyone else sees that, they slow down,” said Stan Brand, a criminal defense attorney and former House counsel. “If it doesn’t look as if the department can convict these cases ... it certainly encourages others to contest. It certainly makes [DOJ’s] job harder.”
U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle declared a mistrial Thursday afternoon in Ring’s public corruption trial after the jurors declared themselves unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Brand said the failure to convict Ring, who is accused of providing tickets to sporting events and other gifts to Congressional staff in exchange for assistance for clients of his then-boss, ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, could hamper other investigations by encouraging defendants to challenge indictments rather than accept plea agreements.
The recent unraveling of the case against former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) compounds the problem for prosecutors in public corruption cases, Brand said.
“There’s no question that the public integrity section is under duress because of the internal issues generated by the Stevens case and the Ring mistrial and everything else that’s happened,” Brand said. “How that will shake out is hard to say. It’s still the responsibility of that section of the department to investigate and bring these cases.”
(and more at the link) Link
“It’s like a traffic violation. If you pull over a bunch of drivers and everyone else sees that, they slow down,” said Stan Brand, a criminal defense attorney and former House counsel. “If it doesn’t look as if the department can convict these cases ... it certainly encourages others to contest. It certainly makes [DOJ’s] job harder.”
U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle declared a mistrial Thursday afternoon in Ring’s public corruption trial after the jurors declared themselves unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Brand said the failure to convict Ring, who is accused of providing tickets to sporting events and other gifts to Congressional staff in exchange for assistance for clients of his then-boss, ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, could hamper other investigations by encouraging defendants to challenge indictments rather than accept plea agreements.
The recent unraveling of the case against former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) compounds the problem for prosecutors in public corruption cases, Brand said.
“There’s no question that the public integrity section is under duress because of the internal issues generated by the Stevens case and the Ring mistrial and everything else that’s happened,” Brand said. “How that will shake out is hard to say. It’s still the responsibility of that section of the department to investigate and bring these cases.”
(and more at the link) Link
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