As we expected, little information came out of Fraser Verrusio's status hearing yesterday. In fact, this is all that appears on PACER:
Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Richard W. Roberts:Status Conference as to FRASER C. VERRUSIO held on 5/5/2009 Status Conference set for 7/31/2009 09:30 AM in Courtroom 9 before Judge Richard W. Roberts. Speedy Trial time excluded between 5/5/09 and 7/31/09 in the interest of justice due to complexity of case
Since we're not lawyers here at the ACR Blog, we won't even attempt to draw any conclusions as to what the exclusion of speedy trial time means. Well, except to say that it seems reasonable that Mr. Verrusio agreed to exclude the speedy trial time. After all, the right to a speedy trial belongs to the defendant.
2 comments:
Verussio strikes me as more than a little delusional - does he really think that he's gonna get off using a public defender? Not to disparage his atty or anything, but PDs are all about thru-put. With budget cutbacks, they carry an even bigger caseload than normal, and just cannot spend alot of time on any one case.
By taking this stance, Verussio is simply gonna piss off the DOJ (and His Honor) by fighting rather than copping a plea like the rest of these guys. His only hope is to offer up something "new" and of considerable value to the DOJ (via his atty), along with a "what was I thinking?" apology (along with his plea), or else he's gonna go to jail for a long time. I mean look at how the DOJ is going after Ring vs Boulanger. They are pulling out all the stops to nail Ring to the cross, when they could just as easily have sent Boulanger up the river for over a 100 years as well. But Boulanger has agreed to plea and cooperate, vs Ring's decision to fight it out rather than give up Doolittle (and probably others too). Verussio can probably give DOJ Don Young, yet it appears he'd rather fall on the sword himself. Like Ring and Scooter Libby, he's either a true ideologue willing to die for some perceived "cause" (no matter how corrupt), or else there's money being exchanged behind the scenes to buy his silence.
Either way, its obvious that people like Ring, Libby, and Verussio are being used and/or duped by more powerful individuals - and yet they are still willing to play the game and pay a high personal price! Its a regular Shakespearean tragedy, in many Acts.
I only discovered this blog recently. You do good work. Its unclear to me whether this is a one-person operation or you have help. I'm not trying to pry here, because it doesn't matter to me other than to say whoever is behind this blog I tip my hat.
Anon,
You make a great point about Mr. Verrusio's reliance on a public defender. My original thought was that by using a public defender, Mr. Verrusio had a free chance at getting an acquittal. But as you suggest, the DoJ may take a pound of flesh in terms of a tougher sentende for not going down quietly.
I'm sure the DoJ would listen to any information Mr. Verrusio was wuilling to provide. It's just that I'm not sure what information of considerable value Mr. Verrusio could give to the DoJ. He may not even be able to sing like a canary ... all the more reason for him to be cooperative instead of doing what he's doing.
I think we disagree on the Scooter Libby trial. Mr. Libby was railroaded. He was convicted for having a different version of events than reporters. It was a classic he said / he said scenario. Peter Fitzgerald could have as easily tried Tim Russert for having a different version of events than Mr. Libby. Please don't confuse that with the very real Abramoff crimes.
As far as the blog goes, there is only one person who has ever hit the "Publish" button. I've been given story ideas from time to time, but it is a one man operation based out of Pearland, Texas.
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