Blogging lawyer silenced as judge expands gag order in Liberty City 7 case

[struggle4progress]

Blogging lawyer silenced as judge expands gag order in Liberty City 7 case
By Vanessa Blum
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 12, 2008

A prominent South Florida criminal defense lawyer <David O. Markus> who writes online commentary about federal court cases can no longer opine on the so-called Liberty City 7 terror case because the judge has expanded a sweeping gag order ...

"Gagged?" Markus wrote on the Southern District of Florida Blog at http://sdfla.blogspot.com , saying he would fight the order through legal channels. Markus represents attorney Joel DeFabio, who in turn represents acquitted defendant Lyglenson Lemorin. Since the jury's verdict Dec. 13, DeFabio has been protesting the gag order, which prevents his client, the defendants, their lawyers, witnesses and others connected to the case from speaking with reporters ...

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard extended the order to include DeFabio's "agents"— a reference Markus took to mean himself. Taking aggressive steps to limit publicity related to the case, Lenard had previously applied the order to attorneys representing Lemorin in deportation proceedings.

Attorney Floyd Abrams, a free speech advocate, called the gag order "unusual" because it affects people not involved in the criminal case ...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbgag0112sbjan12,0,7402397.story

Ex-jurors: Another mistrial looms in Liberty City 7 case
Posted on Sun, Jan. 06, 2008
BY JAY WEAVER
[e-mail]

... Three original jurors said in interviews that the racially mixed panel came within one vote of acquitting a second defendant, Naudimar Herrera, on all four terror-related conspiracy charges during deliberations last month. The one acquitted defendant was Lyglenson Lemorin, who jurors believed had distanced himself from the inner-city organization.

The three jurors also said a majority of their peers voted to convict the group's ringleader, Narseal Batiste, and two of his associates, Patrick Abraham and Stanley Grant Phanor. The jury was split in its vote on the remaining defendants, Burson Augustin and Rotschild Augustine.

The first jury -- consisting of blacks, Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites -- struggled to find common ground because some jurors thought the FBI entrapped Batiste's group by introducing him to an informant posing as an al Qaeda representative who promised big bucks to join a domestic terrorism plot. Other jurors wanted to convict Batiste and some of his followers because they took a loyalty oath to al Qaeda just before photographing target sites in Miami in spring 2006.

The case, touted initially by the Bush administration as ''yet another important victory in the war on terrorism,'' was built on FBI wiretaps and videotapes of mostly Batiste, who was the only defendant to testify in the first three-month trial ...

http://www.miamiherald.com/519/story/369387.html

Liberty City 7 Lawyers: Deck Is Stacked Against Us
Jan 3, 2008 2:55 pm US/Eastern

MIAMI (CBS4) ― Defense lawyers for six of the so called "Liberty City 7" claim there are signs the deck is being stacked against them for their second trial in Miami ...

Defense attorneys claim the presiding judge's decision to keep jurors anonymous and partly sequestered could make the panel more likely to convict. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors say they plan to introduce
new evidence against the group's alleged ringleader, Narseal Batiste, which will portray him as a Muslim fanatic.

The defense has argued that this was a case of entrapment and that the group was enticed by a government snitch and went along only to con him out of money he promised ...

The seventh man, Lyglenson Lemorin, who was acquitted by the jury last month, is being held by immigration authorities in Georgia. He faces deportation to his native Haiti despite the innocent verdicts ...

http://cbs4.com/local/liberty.city.7.2.622610.html

Gag order raises questions in Liberty City terror retrial
By Vanessa Blum | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 3, 2008

... With a sweeping gag order imposed Dec. 13, U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard cited the need to damp down media coverage that could complicate efforts starting Jan. 7 to find impartial jurors to rehear the case.

Her order at the close of the first trial prohibits the defendants, their lawyers, prosecutors, and others, such as agents, investigators and witnesses, from talking to reporters, raising issues for defenders of free speech and drawing a challenge from one of the lawyers covered by the order.

Lenard extended the same restrictions to Lyglenson Lemorin, who was acquitted, and his criminal defense lawyer, as well as an attorney representing the Haitian national in immigration proceedings.

The gag order is so broad that federal prosecutors preparing to retry the case contend it applies to Lemorin's wife, who was once listed as a potential defense witness ...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbliberty0103nbjan03,0,845424.story