Summary: Opening arguments are scheduled to begin May 26 in the Dewey & LeBoeuf case, now that a jury has been drawn.
According to the American Lawyer, a jury pool of close to 1,000 New York residents has been reduced to a 12-person jury in the upcoming trial of former Dewey & LeBoeuf higher ups: chief financial officer Joel Sanders, executive director Stephen DiCarmine, and chairman Steven Davis. According to the Wall Street Journal, the three could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Read about the jury selection process here.
The jury will be comprised of seven women and five men. Additionally, eight alternate jurors were selected. The jury’s task will be to determine whether the three former employees should be convicted or found not guilty of dozens of criminal charges, such as falsifying business records, conspiracy, grand larceny, and scheming to defraud.
Austin Campriello, a former prosecutor in the New York County District Attorney’s Office who is now a partner with Bryan Cave, said, “It’s a very diverse jury. It’s a very intelligent jury, and a jury that we think will be fair and focused.” Campriello and associate attorney Anne Redcross represent DiCarmine.
The jury includes a web designer, a sanitation worker, a respiratory technician, a bus driver, several retirees, and at least one person who is unemployed.
Jury selection began close to two weeks ago. Those in the jury pool first had to complete a survey to determine whether they could sit for the trial, which, according to New York County Supreme Court Justice Robert Stolz, will last into the fall. During the next phase of selection, roughly 200 potential jurors answered a survey that asked questions such as whether they had ever terminated an employee, supervised others as a part of their employment, or filed for personal bankruptcy.
The defense sought the exclusion of certain evidence at the trial.
Defense attorneys predicted that the jury selection would take a significant amount of time because of the expected lengthiness of the trial, so they were pleased that the jury was selected so quickly. According to the New York Times, a verdict may not be reached until after Labor Day.
Elkan Abramowitz, a name partner at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello, said, “It’s going reasonably quickly because the prospective jurors were given a questionnaire so both sides had enough information to decide whether they could be fair.” Abramowitz will represent Davis during the trial.
After the second survey was completed, the potential jurors were asked more questions by the prosecution and the defense. Many of these questions targeted members of the jury pool who noted some familiarity with the case. For example, one individual was a man who had a friend who was laid off from LeBoeuf, Greene & MacRae, and another previously worked at Barclays, which provided significant loans to Dewey & LeBoeuf partners.
Peirce Moser, the assistant district attorney, asked the potential jurors whether they could convict someone who had not actually committed a crime, but, due to his or her role as supervisor, had directed others to do so. Moser also asked whether the jurors believed that insurance companies and banks, instead of actual human beings, could be considered the victims of a crime.
A bankruptcy judge refused to dismiss claims against the former partners.
Abramowitz asked the pool whether some individuals could be found guilty and others not guilty during the same trial, and whether those jurors with experience supervising other individuals had ever witnessed employees doing something wrong and blaming their bosses for it. Abramowitz also asked whether any jurors had a negative bias against accountants or attorneys.
Campriello asked whether the jurors would be bothered by the fact that the defendants made millions of dollars while they worked for Dewey & LeBoeuf. Andrew Frisch, who represents Sanders, asked the jury pool to promise him that they would give him and his client the same attention and care as the other parties involved in the case, since he would be the last attorney to question witnesses. Amanda Bassen and Cesar de Castro will also be representing Sanders.
Opening statements are slated to begin May 26.
Source: American Lawyer
Photo credit: money.cnn.com, heavy.com (Abramowitz), bryancave.com (Campriello, Redcross), cdecastrolaw.com (de Castro), andrewfrisch.com (Frisch, Bassen)