Former Bank of the Commonwealth execs file appeals
http://hamptonroads.com/2014/10/former-bank-commonwealth-execs-file-appeals
Former Bank of the Commonwealth president and CEO Edward J. Woodard Jr. leaves the federal courthouse in Norfolk on Friday, May 24, 2013, after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and 10 related counts. His wife, Sharon, is seen in the background.
Former Bank of the Commonwealth execs file appeals
By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 4, 2014
NORFOLK
The three former executives of Bank of the Commonwealth, imprisoned over a conspiracy that brought down the bank, have filed an appeal claiming the judge who presided over their trial committed a laundry list of errors.
In the appeal, filed late Thursday, Edward J. Woodard Jr., the bank's onetime president and CEO; his son, T. Brandon Woodard; and former bank executive vice president Stephen Fields say the judge prohibited them from presenting a full defense - cutting off witness testimony, refusing certain evidence and favoring the prosecution.
"What the defendant received was a palpably unfair trial in which only the government's side was presented," Fields' lawyers wrote in a 112-page court brief.
Lawyers for the three defendants argue that U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson committed "multiple erroneous evidentiary rulings" that prevented the jury from hearing exculpatory evidence during the eight-week trial last year.