MISSED TRIAL

In the biggest ruling of the day, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin gave John Gotti, Jr., a third mistrial yesterday, and it seems likely prosecutors won’t try to bring the former mobster back to court. The jury had deadlocked 6-6 on charges of witness tampering, the last charge prosecutors needed in order to send Gotti back to jail. We always go straight to the New York Daily News for mob news, and they didn’t disappoint with Gotti’s glowing assessment of his judge: "She is the difference between a fair trial and a railroad job. God bless her." The trial has captivated New Yorkers since 2004, when federal prosecutors tried to send Gotti back to prison after he served seven years on a plea bargained sentence. The highly publicized legal battle cost Gotti a cool million.

GARSON WILL FIGHT
An allegedly crooked ex-judge will defend himself in court, rather than accept a 16-month plea deal for his part in the biggest scandal to rock the New York state judiciary in years. According to the New York Post, this was the final deal that prosecutors offered to ex-Brooklyn Supreme Court judge Gerald Garson. Garson's bribery and corruption charges stemmed from a large-scale investigation into the Brooklyn judiciary — revealing questionable actions by Garson and members of his politically connected family. Prosecutors hope for a November trial date, but his lawyer said that Garson’s health problems could delay the trial. His lawyer Ronald Fischetti told the Post, "sixteen months is a long time for a 74-year-old man."

STRESS TEST
Supreme Court justice Carol Robinson Edmead refused to let a fast-food mogul off the hook, the New York Law Journal reports. Citing clinical anxiety, Nicholas Lagono, Jr., had requested that Edmead use his deposition testimony instead of having the owner of the Blimpie sandwich empire testify in an unpaid rent dispute in Manhattan. The owner is a deposed witness and not a defendant in the case, but Lagono didn’t show up for two trial conferences during the last year. Edmead held a special hearing to consider his lawyer’s claims that his extreme anxiety should keep the owner out of the courtroom. "Although testifying in court may be stressful for Mr. Lagano, as it may be for many witnesses, there is no testimony indicating that his appearance to testify in court is life-threatening or that Mr. Lagano is 'incompetent,’” wrote Edmead.

THE RECKONING
The New York Times took a scholarly look at the U.S. Supreme Court today, probing the court calendar with legal experts. Legal scholars and lawyers all agreed that this would be a landmark year for the court, testing President Bush’s two new appointees and the new political balance on the country's highest bench. Tom Goldstein, a lawyer who has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court many times, noted, “The term is going to be a bellwether on the shift in the court's ideology. The court is revisiting a series of profound issues.” According to the article, the Supreme Court will soon hear cases involving environmental regulation, abortion, and affirmative action plans in public schools — issues that have divided the court for years.