ACQUITTAL, EX POST FACTO
It was an unusual way for a trial court judge to rebuff the prosecutions arguments — that is, after the fact. Judge Denny Chin, of U.S. District Court in Manhattan yesterday reversed a jury verdict that found a New York Stock Exchange floor supervisor guilty of criminal charges in a trading scheme. Chin found that there was not evidence to support the fraud conviction of David Finnerty, who once oversaw all trading in General Electric Co. stock, the papers report (we’re looking at the Associated Press via Newsday.) Back in October, when a jury convicted Finnerty of securities fraud, Chin said he was troubled by some of the evidence prosecutors used to secure the conviction. Chin acquitted Finnerty, saying that the government failed to prove the former supervisor had engaged in fraudulent or deceptive conduct “within the meaning of securities laws.” There was no evidence that Finnerty’s customers were misled or defrauded, Chin said. Prosecutors had already dropped charges against seven of the 15 original defendants, whom the government accused of using their positions to earn about $20 million illegally for themselves and their firms. Two of the 15 were convicted, two acquitted, and two pleaded guilty. Besides Finnerty, two others were convicted, two were acquitted, and two had pleaded guilty. One defendant remains at large.

 
LEACH TO HELM STATE LITIGATION 
The top administrative judge in Queens will move to a statewide role within the next two weeks. As deputy attorney general in charge of the Division of State Counsel, Judge Leslie Leach assumes responsibility for all litigation involving New York state, its agencies and its officials. The New York Law Journal says few state judges have left the bench to work for a governmental agency — the last one in 1992, when Court of Appeals Judge Fritz Alexander resigned to become deputy mayor for public safety in New York City. Leach takes over from Richard Rifkin, who was appointed special counsel by Governor Eliot Spitzer. Leach, whom the Daily News says has been mentioned as a candidate for the Court of Appeals and is known as a "gentleman and a scholar", worked for 12 years as a law clerk before his appointment to the Criminal Court in 1993. He became an acting Supreme Court judge 11 years ago, and was elected in 2003. He’s presided over the drug courts in Queens for the last five years, and is credited with innovations in that specialized court.

VILLAGE IDIOT
More coverage in The New York Times of justice delayed and at times, denied, in state town and village courts. William Glaberson opens his story with this anecdote, underscoring yet again the need for better training for the 1,250 judges who preside in these small courts:
“In court one December night in 2003, the town justice in Cuyler, N.Y., told the town’s lawyer that she would postpone four zoning cases. She set a January date for the next proceeding.
But before that date arrived, without consulting the town lawyer or hearing any testimony in court, the justice ruled that “after thinking about” the cases, she was dismissing them. State investigators later discovered that she had had private conversations with three of the defendants and a town official about the cases.” The Commission on Judicial Conduct ordered the removal of the judge, Jean Marshall. Her actions were more egregious, writes Glaberman, because she lied about her actions and altered court records in an attempted cover-up. With so much discussion about judicial pay, perhaps it’s worth considering whether increasing the current $3,000-a-year pay for the job might raise the bar?

NORMAN, LIBBY: DELIBERATIONS
Trial update: No verdicts in the I. Scooter Libby or Clarence Norman trials. The juries in both went into deliberations yesterday.