Appellate Law

CA1: jury contamination by judge

By S. COTUS

US v. Ofray-Campos, et. al, Nos. 05-1461, 05-1462, 05-2315, 05-2627, 06-1005 is one of many Puerto Rican drug cases.  There are a few interesting issues there, which I will get to later.  These include: 1) jury notes; 2) jury contamination by the judge?s remarks (?Quite simply, the extrinsic information allowed the jury to draw the prejudicial inference that, if thirty-seven non-testifying co-defendants had been found guilty of the crimes described in the Indictment, the Appellants also must be guilty.?); and 3) enhancements for leadership roles.  A great (but long) case that you folks will have to wait for.

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on July 07, 2008 (boomark / email).