Federal Judiciary

Thursday news and notes

2. Big opinion out of the 11th today on jury instructions -- a reversal for not providing the good faith instruction as requested by the defense. It's 67 pages and I haven't digested it yet, but here's the money quote:"The requested instruction properly placed the determination with the jury as to whether they acted in good faith in seeking advice, fully and completely reporting to their accountant, and acting strictly in accordance with the advice."

3. Joel DeFabio says his pimp (of Haitian descent) is being selectively prosecuted when compared to Jeffrey Epstein:

Johnny Saintil, a Fort Lauderdale native of Haitian descent, sits in jail awaiting a federal trial Monday on charges of recruiting two girls for an Internet-based prostitution ring in Broward County. The 28-year-old faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Jeffrey Epstein, a Palm Beach billionaire, ended his one-year probation last month after serving 13 months in jail on two state convictions for soliciting a prostitute who was a minor. He also had to register as a sex offender.
Epstein, 57, came within a whisker of being indicted by the U.S. attorney's office in Miami on essentially the same charges as Saintil -- but involving a much higher number of victims.
Now Saintil's defense attorney, Joel DeFabio, is urging a Fort Lauderdale federal judge to throw out the indictment against his client, arguing ``selective prosecution'' by prosecutors while citing the race and class differences between Saintil, a poor black man, and Epstein, a rich white man.
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DeFabio points out that Epstein didn't just pay for sex with high school girls -- he also schemed with aides to recruit them for his personal pleasure.
``Epstein was both a pimp and a `john' (an individual who pays the prostitutes for sex),'' DeFabio said in court papers. ``He recruited and paid individuals to go out into the public and find minor girls to have sex with him for money.''
Two other defendants charged with Saintil -- Michael DeFrand and Stanley Wilson -- have joined his selective prosecution petition filed with U.S. District Judge William Zloch.
The U.S. attorney's office countered in court papers that DeFabio's claims are ``unfounded.'' A spokesman declined to comment.

Full post as published by Southern District of Florida on August 19, 2010 (boomark / email).