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Keeping the lid on Pandora's Jar - by the Bard of the Short Circuit

By Tom Lincoln

Circuit Judge Selya's opinion for the First Circuit panel  in United States v. Watson and O'Hearn, No. 04-1913 (1st Cir. October 12, 2004) turns down -rightfully so- a Government interlocutory appeal from a district court's order refusing to grant the Government a trial continuance in a three year old case. Finding that the Appellate Court lacked jurisdiction, Judge Selya refuses to construe 18 U.S.C. § 3731 in a manner "that otherwise would open Pandora's jar, [n.2] ..." Id. at 9.[n. 2] Although the more common allusion is to "Pandora's box," that usage is apparently erroneous. Zeus, determined to avenge himself on Prometheus, presented this femme fatale to Epimetheus (Prometheus' brother), first arming her with a jar containing all the evils of the world...continue to full post

Full post as published by Puerto Rico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on October 12, 2004 (boomark / email).