Judicial Reports: LexPress: Will It Ever End?

By Jesse Sunenblick
Posted 04-12-07 

Your go-to place for Garson and Norman (and DMX!) updates.

WILL IT EVER END?
The New York Times today paints a lewd picture of the continued histrionics in the bribry trial of former Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Gerald Garson. The two lead attorneys in the trial, Michael S. Washor (representing Garson) and assistant district attorney Michael F. Vecchione apparently aren't the best of friends. Mr. Washor, whose client was caught on tape allegedly accepting money in exchange for case referrals in matrimonial cases, has sought to portray his adversary as reckless and the state's witnesses as untrustworthy, often resorting to aggressive, campy verbal barrages to make his point. "I didn’t ask about your comfort level," Mr. Washor responded to his client's former law clerk, who had testified that he felt "uncomfortable" around the justice, according to The Times. "I’m not a travel agent." On another occasion, Washor demanded a mistrial after a disbarred matrimonial lawyer testifying for the prosecution admitted that he'd been interviewed by Mr. Vecchione after his arrest. The prosecution is expected to rest its case today.

 

WILL IT EVER END, PART II
Richard E. Mischel, the attorney for disgraced Assemblyman Clarence Norman, appealed two of his client's three criminal convictions at the Appellate Division yesterday, The New York Law Journal reports. The separate oral arguments were about Norman's conviction for stealing $5000 in campaign funds and his soliciting and failing to report donations in excess of the $3,100 limit in the election law. Mr. Mischel contends that the failure of the prosecution to offer immunity to Brooklyn Assemblywoman Diane Gordon – who Norman says owed him money that the $5000 was reimbursement for, even though the check was made out to his campaign committee – deprived Mr. Norman of testimony that would have corroborated the reason he advanced the $5,000. In the excessive contribution appeal, Mischel said that the trial judge, Martin Marcus, had erred in allowing into evidence three prior campaign checks that the prosecution said had been structured by Norman to avoid the legal limits.

 
JUST SHOW UP ALREADY?
In non-Brooklyn news, a White Plains City Court Judge Brian Hansbury signed an arrest warrant for rapper DMX (aka Earl Simmons) after he failed to appear in court yesterday for a pre-trial conference on traffic charges. The drama is reported in The Journal News. Since being arrested in June for speeding while driving without a license, not wearing a seatbelt, and making an unsafe lane change, Simmons has already missed to court appearances and spent a night in jail. According to News, he was released after posting a $2,500 bond and has declined plea bargain offers made by the Westchester County District Attorney's office.

Posted by Jesse on April 12, 2007 09:43 AM to Judicial Reports