Breaking CNN: Mistrial Granted in the TYCO Case

[Cush]

on CNN & MSNBC, no link yet

[Jacobin]

1. The holdout juror just won the lottery.

[No Mandate Here.]

7. The juror probably has a job lined up...

... at the next $ 2 million birthday bacchanal for Koslewski's (sic) wife.

[fishnfla]

11. That whack job of a juror is one of his "peers" now

can you say gold-digger?

[Coventina]

2. That juror should be investigated!

A reporter on NPR said she was seen making the "OK" sign to the defense attnys.

[Red State Rebel]

15. I'm suprised they put a retired lawyer on the panel...what a mess.

[tom_paine]

3. Another Bushevik walks

I've been following this story, and it reminds me of the John Gotti Jury Tampered Trials, the way it played out.

Kozlowski's goons got to someone with bribe or fear, IMHO. Naturally, DoJ wouldn't help even if the juror dared report it, because Bushevik Justice is 1940s Mississippi Justice and anyone not Bushevik are the (RACIAL EPITHET REDACTED)s.

[NoMoreRedInk]

4. Was Kozlowski a Republican donor? What perks that brings.

It sure must be nice to be able to buy your way out of trouble whenever it occurs.

[President Jesus]

28. Big-time, major-league republican donor

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=NH&last=Kozlowski&first=Dennis

[underpants]

6. $600 Million vs. $38 THOUSAND (Martha)

Uh-huh.

[theHandpuppet]

17. And that was Martha's $38,000

The Tyco 600 mil was money that belonged to the stockholders.

Justice is a frigging JOKE..

[SemperEadem]

18. he doesn't walk... he still has to face trial...

a mistrial isn't a conviction, therefore this isn't a case of double jeopardy----he will be tried again.

[joeunderdog]

22. Sounds like they had him except for the holdout.

They will get him next time, especially if Shrub has left town by then. This is only a temporary pause, Koz can't be feeling good that he fooled no one but a little old lady.

[cspiguy]

5. this is a dark day on many fronts...

:(

[Blue_Tires]

8. omfg

try the bastard again!! these corporations literally get away with anything now...true example of how law applies to some and not others.

I should've studied business in college...the last authentic license to steal. I trust Wall Street even less than the GOP

[TroglodyteScholar]

9. Holy SHIT eom

[Khephra]

10. The judge said

"We must do this again sometime."

No joke. His attempt at humor.

[NeoConsSuck]

12. And hopefully they will.

[Red State Rebel]

14. I have no doubt there will be a retrial....

[TroglodyteScholar]

13. Disgrace

:mad::puke::mad::puke::mad::puke::mad::puke::mad::puke::mad::puke:

[Cassandra]

30. If you've ever watched Law & Order...

and wondered if real NYC judges have a sense of humor; yes, some of them do. They've seen it all and then some.

[0007]

35. Aw yes!

Ubi dubium ibi libertas

[benburch]

16. "Runaway Jury"

Life imitates art.

[SemperEadem]

19. I want that woman's life torn apart for this theatrical stunt

every aspect of her life should be thrown out into the street for us all to see, since she puffed herself up with pride and importance and made herself the "star" of this trial. She needs to go down hard.

[russian33]

20. I don't care...

I'm glad Martha is going behind bars...cause she hurt the little people...oh wait, she didn't? these guys did? WTF!!!

[demdave]

21. Someone please get a link so I can get up to speed on this one. Thanks.

[maddezmom]

23. here's one

http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/02/news/midcaps/tyco_outcome/

[demdave]

25. Thanks. What was the "coercive letter" that the juror received?

They mentioned it and then there was no elaboration.

[nolabels]

24. Staying true to form "JUST-US" is rooted in the court system

I never held any reservations about political lackeys appointed to judgeships. Really think they should send them to drama school first though, makes for better entertainment ;(



he headline in the July 22, 1871 edition of the New York Times screamed "Gigantic Frauds of the Ring Exposed." The story running under it was even more shocking. The people who had been hired to build the city's new courthouse -- the "forty thieves," as they came to be called -- were stealing money by the barrelful.

At a time when the average workman made a dollar a day, contractors had charged the city $400,000 for safes, $175,000 for carpets, and $7,500 for thermometers. Altogether, the courthouse had cost over $13 million -- or more than twice what the United State had paid for Alaska four years earlier!

But the leader of the "ring" -- William "Boss" Tweed -- was not so worried about the headlines. It was the cartoons that got to him. Drawn by Thomas Nast (the same cartoonist who first drew Santa Claus the way we picture him) and printed in Harper's magazine, they depicted Tweed as a vulture, and worse
(snip)
http://history1900s.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fwnet%2Fnewyork%2Flaic%2Fepisode3%2Ftopic6%2Fe3_t6_s2-tn.html

[Chitown_Dem]

26. Are there any legal professionals on here

who think this looks like jury tampering? Some of the surface details make it appear that it is (based on the "ok" sign from this juror to the defense, etc.), but I'm not a lawyer and not familiar with the courts, so I'm no expert.

[Occulus]

29. An inside job

ala Runaway Jury?

How much truth to that might there be?

[President Jesus]

27. campaign cash: Koz vs. Stewart

Kozlowski
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=NH&last=Kozlowski&first=Dennis

Stewart
http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CT&last=Stewart&first=Martha

Kozlwoski: free
Stewart: convicted

[KamaAina]

31. Kozlowski stole from impoverished rural O'ahu

Among other things, Tyco was big into internet bandwidth. It so happens that an excellent place to land transpacific cables is on the west side of the island of O'ahu. This area, also known as the Wai'anae Coast after its largest town, is an impoverished, semi-rural area with a large Native Hawaiian population. Tyco had built a state-of-the-art control facility in Ma'ili, just south of Wai'anae. It could have meant the end of the "digital divide" on the Wai'anae Coast.

Then that lousy filthy dirty rat fink Kozlowski stole all of Tyco's money to throw his fancy birthday parties. Now the building is just sitting there empty by the side of Farrington Highway.

As a civilized society, Hawai'i doesn't have the death penalty -- but there are some well-known shark runs right near there...

[lucky777]

32. I'm a law professor . . .

so I can answer a few questions (although I teach business law and not criminal law).

Martha Stewart was charged in her individual capacity (not in the corporate capacity) and was tried in Federal Court by the US Government on charges of obstructing justice with regard to her own personal trades in ImClone. Her lawsuit was not a 'corporate' scandal. However the SEC has also brought a civil case against her that will start this fall for insider trading, but since it is a civil case the remedy is disgourgement of profit and not jail time.

These Tyco guys (Kozlowski and Swartz) are charged with corporate crime (looting the corporation via fraud) and were tried in State Court by the New York City attorney. They were charged with criminal looting and with stock manipulation.

So the allegations were different in the two cases.

The US gov has a long and pretty good success rate at white collar crime; NY City has a poor history of this. Bottom line: Martha faced tougher prosecution.

A mistrial has no serious legal effect beyond discouragement. The defendant is neither 'guilty' nor 'not guilty.' They can be tried once again. However, the short term effect is that they walk free until they are tried again. It is not a win or loss for either side in technical terms but it is considered a win for the defendant in reality since they are kept out of jail!

As a law prof, the Tyco case is more disturbing since the evidence was totally overwhelmingly against these guys. Martha's case was just plain weird -- she was charged with lying about insider trading yet she wasn't charged with insider trading at the time; and anyway, defendants lie constantly about where they were and what they were doing, and no one charges them with a crime for coming up with an alibi. Strange and almost surreal. It is true that she lied to the government and that is a nominal crime, so she should be fined or something light.

Law profs agree that Tyco was the more outrageous situation.

[daleo]

33. A legal analyst on MSNBC (former prosecute)

Said that the case may be 'aged'(i.e. wait a long time before a new trial) in order to 'refresh the jury pool'. One wonders if the state may not decide to forgo a new trial after this time has passed, as the memories of witnesses may no longer be reliable, and the public may have moved on to fresh outrages.

Call me cynical, but I see an excellent chance that this is as good as an acquittal for these Tyco people.

[nolabels]

34. The underlying fact cannot be denied

If these were simple bank swindlers they would be in the slammer hard, but these political connected crooks demeans the honorable people practicing the profession of law. Gives them a real black eye to say the least. I can almost bet the prosucution started out on the weak side from the very begining. The little quip of the judge was quite telling.

The day before yesterday a lady died after smashing into the side of a errant truck while driving 70mph talking on her cell phone. (it concerned me because the truck came out of the motor pool I work out of) It was totally the truck drivers fault making a bone headed u-turn, but mostly in anything tragic, two or more parties often share in part of its making.

A day later, and just down the road they have a 78 vehicle accident in the fog on steep downhill and no body gets hurt in the whole thing. Attention and focus is critical, many of the people who should be paying attention are not.

[lucky777]

36. You're right -- the law treats white collar crime too easily

The law favors white collar crime and hates blue collar crime. It is a subtle form of racism. The evening news is full of stories about some guy on the west side of chicago who robbed a liquor store, but nothing on the billions stolen from ordinary people by white collar criminals.

The Savings and Loan scandal cost thousands to every man-woman-child in America (thanks to Bush's brother in part). Yet people go to jail for stealing a pizza.

As a lawyer, I am sickened by how these rich criminals surround themselves with lawyers to protect them, always proclaiming their innocence. I have more respect for drug dealers b/c at least they are offering a product!

There are good lawyers out there but they are few and far between. I left the practice to become a professor, but I see how my students just want to make $, they don't care how.