First Federal Criminal Jury Trial after COVID-19
Jun 03, 2020OUTCOME: Not guilty
In June of 2020, I was asked to conduct the first federal criminal jury trial in the country since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. For our client's safety we attempted to postpone the trial ... until the world gathered more information on the Pandemic, but when the Judge denied our request our team put their own health in jeopardy to make sure our client got the fair trial that he deserved. He was accused of possessing a firearm illegally. The government had him on video making statements that could have been interpreted as a confession that the gun was his. Our team presented evidence that he had no idea the gun was present in the car that he was driving because it was in fact his wife's car and his wife's gun. We were also able to successfully argue to the jury that his statements should not be taken as a confession, but were instead made out of the anger and confusion of being arrested late at night for a gun that he knew nothing about. He was found not guilty and kept his freedom.
