Annulment of the judgment in case Dewey & LeBoeuf
14:17
Annulment of the judgment in case Dewey & LeBoeuf
An employee who leaves office of Manhattan Dewey & LeBoeuf of the belongings, the11 of may 2012. Credit Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
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The trial of three former leaders of the firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf lawyers was declarednull the trial on Monday, after more four months, by the judge in charge of the case. AManhattan jury had stalled on dozens of charges against the men.
The jury had already acquitted the three, Steven H. Davis, Stephen DiCarmine and JoelSanders, in dozens of positions and had not declared them guilty on a single charge.The men were accused of manipulating financial records from the law firm formerly powerful.
The jury of seven women and five men acquitted the accused on 58 charges of falsification of business records in two partial sentences provided through a stretch of a week. But the jury still could not reach an agreement on the other 93 chargesinvolving more serious offences such as robbery to large-scale and securities fraud.He had deliberated for 21 full days.
The decision on Monday was announced by Judge Robert Stolz of the Court Supremeof the State of New York in Manhattan. The members of the jury twice before hadsent notes saying that they could not reach a verdict unanimous on most of thecharges. In the previous cases, the judge had instructed the jurors to keep trying toreach a verdict. In his note on Monday, the jurors said they were hopelessly "neutral"and that the new instructions from the judge would not help.
The annulment of the judgment does not necessarily end the trial; the judge still mustdecide on a motion of the defence waiting to dismiss all charges.
And the mistrial leaves open the possibility that Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the ManhattanDistrict Attorney, might return to try the men on the deadlocked charges. The case,followed closely in the legal community, was one of the most important prosecutionsof white collar pursued by the office of the Lord Vance.
The prosecution had accused the three men, all them lawyers, oversee a multi-yearplan to manipulate financial records for Dewey to persuade banks and investors tocontinue to provide funding to the law firm during the financial crisis.
The company that once employed more than 1,200 lawyers collapsed in bankruptcy in may 2012 and the men were charged by a grand jury in Manhattan after a two year investigation by the office of the Lord Vance.
Long deliberations, the number of acquittals and the annulment of the trial raisesquestions about whether the case was too complex since the jury took into account151 charges against the three men - and that was after the fiscal dismissed dozens ofcounts just before the jury has already been the case.
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