LexPress: Judge Race Results
By Jesse Sunenblick
jsunenblick@judicialstudies.com
Posted: 11-05-08
Eastern District Judge Jack Weinstein excludes dismemberment evidence from a death penalty trial. In other news, Judge Judith McMahon wins the first ever seat in Staten Island's new 13th Judicial District.
NEW DISTRICT, NEW JUDGE
In one of the more noteworthy judicial elections, Acting Staten Island Supreme Court Justict Judith McMahon bested Civil Court Supervising Judge Philip Straniere for a Supreme Court seat in the island’s new 13th Judicial District. The Staten Island Advance has the story. “I made a commitment to [state Sen. Andrew] Lanza when he put the district together that I would run. I ran the best race I could under the circumstances. Tomorrow, I'll go back to work in Civil Court,” Straniere said.
NASSAU AND SUFFOLK RESULTS
Meanwhile, Newsday breaks down judicial election results in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
DISMEMBERMENT PLAN
Eastern District Judge Jack Weinstein has ruled that any evidence of a convicted killer’s dismembering of his two victims cannot be introduced during the death penalty phase of his trial, reports The New York Law Journal. In a case that speaks to the growing rift over the death penalty in New York City federal courts, Weinstein had originally ruled that the evidence should be excluded from Humberto Pepin Taveras’s trial, but the Second Circuit reversed, leaving it up to Weinstein’s discretion how he would handle the evidence during the death penalty portion. The judge chose to exclude the evidence, but not to convene a new jury, saying it would be “costly for the court and the parties,” and should “only be utilized if it is necessary to protect the defendant's right to a fair trial. . . . The present jury is capable of following the court’s instructions not to consider the dismemberment evidence it heard during the guilt phase and of fairly deciding the appropriate sentence to be imposed.”
DRIVE BY JUDGE
The two men who allegedly fired shots at the home of Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho have been arrested, reports The Daily News. Reportedly, it appears to have been retaliation by two men who had beaten up one of Camacho’s neighbors, after which the judge intervened.
THE GOOD BROTHER
And also from the Daily News, Southern District Judge Shira Scheindlin has released on $10 million bail a woman accused of conning big businesses into donating goods they thought were going to schools or Indian reservations, and then selling the products to wholesalers. Dina Wein-Reis’s brother, the Manhattan attorney Hershel Wein, put up his house and his $1.3 million annual salary as collateral, saying, “I have 100 percent faith in my sister. The idea that she will flee. That will not happen.”
In one of the more noteworthy judicial elections, Acting Staten Island Supreme Court Justict Judith McMahon bested Civil Court Supervising Judge Philip Straniere for a Supreme Court seat in the island’s new 13th Judicial District. The Staten Island Advance has the story. “I made a commitment to [state Sen. Andrew] Lanza when he put the district together that I would run. I ran the best race I could under the circumstances. Tomorrow, I'll go back to work in Civil Court,” Straniere said.
NASSAU AND SUFFOLK RESULTS
Meanwhile, Newsday breaks down judicial election results in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
DISMEMBERMENT PLAN
Eastern District Judge Jack Weinstein has ruled that any evidence of a convicted killer’s dismembering of his two victims cannot be introduced during the death penalty phase of his trial, reports The New York Law Journal. In a case that speaks to the growing rift over the death penalty in New York City federal courts, Weinstein had originally ruled that the evidence should be excluded from Humberto Pepin Taveras’s trial, but the Second Circuit reversed, leaving it up to Weinstein’s discretion how he would handle the evidence during the death penalty portion. The judge chose to exclude the evidence, but not to convene a new jury, saying it would be “costly for the court and the parties,” and should “only be utilized if it is necessary to protect the defendant's right to a fair trial. . . . The present jury is capable of following the court’s instructions not to consider the dismemberment evidence it heard during the guilt phase and of fairly deciding the appropriate sentence to be imposed.”
DRIVE BY JUDGE
The two men who allegedly fired shots at the home of Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho have been arrested, reports The Daily News. Reportedly, it appears to have been retaliation by two men who had beaten up one of Camacho’s neighbors, after which the judge intervened.
THE GOOD BROTHER
And also from the Daily News, Southern District Judge Shira Scheindlin has released on $10 million bail a woman accused of conning big businesses into donating goods they thought were going to schools or Indian reservations, and then selling the products to wholesalers. Dina Wein-Reis’s brother, the Manhattan attorney Hershel Wein, put up his house and his $1.3 million annual salary as collateral, saying, “I have 100 percent faith in my sister. The idea that she will flee. That will not happen.”