MADOFF EMPLOYEE TRIAL, AFTER 5 MONTHS, GOES TO THE JURY

UPDATE one of the Jurors was excused because of an illness, and now the jury is deliberating
with just 11 jurors.

Today after 5 months,  the jury in the trial of Bernard Madoff's secretary, his director of operations, an account manager and two computer programmers, began deliberating. Over 40 witnesses testified in a trial of remarkable size and scope. Several unusual aspects to the trial:

·         2 defendants testified in their own defense

·         the trial took place in the same courtroom where Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison

·         The judge in the case, kept a very collegial  atmosphere, and lawyers conferred upon objections, working out their differences far away from the eyes and ears of the jury in the giant ceremonial courtroom, only on occasion did the judge need to rule.

·         one of the defendants was given a special chair to make it easier to sit through out the long drawn out case

·         Star witness Frank DiPascali testified on the stand for 14 days, which spanned from 2013 into 2014.

Reuters story about jury deliberations

Five months later, jurors face tough task in Madoff aides' trial: Reuters

Below are some select images from the trial that touch upon some key moments during the 5 month trial

AUSA Matthew Schwartz gives opening statement October 16, 2013

USA Today story link about opening statements

Defense table, defendants with attorneys in ceremonial courtroom Manhattan Federal Court 

Defense Attorney Larry Krantz cross examines Frank DiPascali
 USA Today story link about DiPascali testimony

AUSA Randall Jackson cross examines defendant Daniel Bonventre

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-12/madoff-ex-aide-s-son-slept-under-desk-jury-is-told.html

Defense attorney Roland Riopelle questions his client and defendant Annette Bongiorno

Daniel Bonventre seated far left with defense team, conferring, before trial.

AUSA Randall Jackson gives closing statement ( far right) with defense table left
prosecution table, right. 

Judge Laura Taylor Swain

All Artwork by Elizabeth Williams 

CNN's DEATH ROW STORIES with ARTWORK BY AGGIE KENNY

Tonight (Sunday) at 9pm EST, 

CNN will air the first in a series of ground breaking documentaries 

produced by Robert Redford and  Alex Gibney, narrated by Susan Sarandon titled 

Death Row Stories.

The show includes images by Aggie Kenny as they were created.

Here are her recollections and insights in to the process of working on the show. 

I was given the task of recreating scenes from the 1982 and 1995 trials of Edward Elmore as well as the  4^th  Circuit Appellate hearing before a 3 judge panel. Starting with blank, white watercolor paper, cameras were trained on my drawing and painting process for many hours. Although I was given photo reference, this experience was very different from that in thecourtroom, my normal venue. Although subjects are in constant motion in the courtroom, I find drawing from life much easier. Points of reference, gesture, color, clothes, etc. are thereto draw, whereas recreations require more imagination and research. AK

Edward Elmore on the stand, recreated by Aggie Kenny

For more information on the show,
CNN link
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/us/gallery/death-row-stories-elmore-evidence/index.html 

RICHARD TOMLINSON: AWARD WINNING ILLUSTRATOR AND ARTIST

RICHARD TOMLINSON

The late Richard Tomlinson’s award winning work has been exhibited at The Museum of Television and Radio, The Society of Illustrators, The Art Directors Club, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, Syracuse University, and at Rutgers University Law Library where it is on loan for permanent exhibition. Tomlinson’s extensive trial credits include the Black Panther 21, David ‘Son of Sam’ Berkowitz, and the trials of Robert Chambers, Abscam, Jack Henry Abbott, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Jean Harris, Bernhard Goetz, and John Gotti He was featured in Art In America, New York Newsday, and Illustrators in America. His entire collection of courtroom art has been acquired by the John Jay School of Criminal Justice.

Author note: On top of covering major historic NYC cases and trials, Richard Tomlinson was always drawing in court, whether it was for the news or not. He was inspired by many things, a typewriter, a stenographer, a generic court scene, 
in one case he used a court stamp to add interest

to his drawing. Below are drawings that have never been published before, scenes that Richard found compelling. 

Court stenographer: Black Panther trial 1970

Un-named participants during Black Panther trial 1970

Print of items in the press room at 100 Centre Street, Manhattan Criminal Court 1984

Courtroom scene with stamps 7/11/1985

Court Stenographer: Alice Crimmins trial 

Typewriter  in press room 1970

Un-named defendant 1989

COYOTE VS ACME the 14 year old "lawsuit" filed in the New Yorker 2/26/1990

                                              Friz Freeling and Chuck Jones created iconic cartoon characters and images.

Fourteen years ago a  brilliant piece of satire titled Coyote vs Acme
was written by  Ian Frazier and published in 
The New Yorker, February 26, 1990, p. 42--43.
 This is the one spot the courtroom and those cartoons meet.

Below is a selection from the article and the link:

http://www.torinfo.com/justforlaughs/coyote_v_acme.html

Also below is a choice video:
Acme Batman Outfits:
Guaranteed for the Life of the User

Acme Rocket Skates

Coyote V. Acme

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT,

SOUTHWESTERN DISTRICT, TEMPE, ARIZONA

CASE NO. B19294, JUDGE JOAN KUJAVA, PRESIDING

Wile E. Coyote, Plaintiff

-v.-

Acme Company, Defendant

Opening Statement of Mr. Harold Schoff, attorney for Mr. Coyote:

My client, Mr. Wile E. Coyote, a resident of Arizona and contiguous states, does hereby bring suit for damages against the Acme Company, manufacturer and retail distributor of assorted merchandise, incorporated in Delaware and doing business in every state, district, and territory. Mr. Coyote seeks compensation for personal injuries, loss of business income, and mental suffering causes as a direct result of the actions and/or gross negligence of said company, under Title 15 of the United States Code, Chapter 47, section 2072, subsection (a), relating to product liability.

Mr. Coyote states that on eighty-five separate occasions he has purchased of the Acme Company (hereinafter, "Defendant"), through that company's mail-order department, certain products which did cause him bodily injury due to defects in manufacture or improper cautionary labeling. Sales slips made out to Mr. Coyote as proof of purchase are at present in the possession of the Court, marked Exhibit A. Such injuries sustained by Mr. Coyote have temporarily restricted his ability to make a living in his profession of predator. Mr. Coyote is self-employed and thus not eligible for Workmen's Compensation.

Acme Batman Outfits video link

Mr. Coyote states that on occasions too numerous to list in this document he has suffered mishaps with explosives purchased of Defendant: the Acme "Little Giant" Firecracker, the Acme Self-Guided Aerial Bomb, etc. (For a full listing, see the Acme Mail Order Explosives Catalogue and attached deposition, entered in evidence as Exhibit C.) Indeed, it is safe to say that not once has an explosive purchased of Defendant by Mr. Coyote performed in an expected manner. To cite just one example: At the expense of much time and personal effort, Mr. Coyote constructed around the outer rim of a butte a wooden trough beginning at the top of the butte and spiraling downward around it to some few feet above a black X painted on the desert floor. The trough was designed in such a way that a spherical explosive of the type sold by Defendant would roll easily and swiftly down to the point of detonation indicated by the X. Mr. Coyote placed a generous pile of birdseed directly on the X, and then, carrying the spherical Acme Bomb (Catalog #78-832), climbed to the top of the butte. Mr. Coyote's prey, seeing the birdseed, approached, and Mr. Coyote proceeded to light the fuse. In an instant, the fuse burned down to the stem, causing the bomb to detonate.

In addition to reducing all Mr. Coyote's careful preparations to naught, the premature detonation of Defendant's product resulted in the following disfigurements to Mr. Coyote:

1              Severe singeing of the hair on the head, neck, and muzzle.

2              Sooty discoloration.

3              Fracture of the left ear at the stem, causing the ear to dangle in the aftershock with a creaking noise.

4              Full or partial combustion of whiskers, producing kinking, frazzling, and ashy disintegration.

5              Radical widening of the eyes, due to brow and lid charring.

Note the lawsuit is still awaiting a ruling,  hopefully some day to be continued. 
Laugh on!