Yeehaa! Good News at Last from the Hurwitz Trial…

Yeehaa! Good News at Last from the Hurwitz Trial; email from Mary Baluss, Esq., to the Treatment and Prevention of Pain and Chemical Dependency listServ; National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain; 10pm, 2004-04-18.

Friends, today the defense rested and the judge heard the defense motion for judgment of acquittal (FRCrP 29). The rule requires that: “After the government closes its evidence or after the close of all the evidence, the court on the defendant’s motion must enter a judgment of acquittal of any offense for which the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction.

[The judge] granted judgement of acquittal on the three remaining counts that invoked “serious bodily harm” and carried a mandatory minimum penalty of 20 years EACH. She also deleted the “serious bodily harm” clause from the government’s conspiracy count, similarly reducing the penalty on conviction. This leaves “simple conspiracy” and some 50 counts of “distribution” (prescribing) without a legitimate medical purpose and outside the bounds of medical practice.

Even if Billy is convicted on all of these counts (unlikely but possible) the mandatory sentence will not be burdened and the judge could show more leniency in sentencing.Billy did very well on direct and well on cross. In both cases, far better than trial no. 1.

Jury will start deliberations tomorrow. Charge to jury was interesting and important and I’ll be getting a copy that I can send on or ask Alex to post by tomorrow. I am also sending to Alex [defense expert Dr.] Jim Campbel’s testimony for posting.

Grueling four weeks for all concerned but supremely so for Billy and lead counsel. If you want to do a good deed send a thank you email to rsauber@friedfrank.com and lrobbins@robbinsrussel.com and Campbel and Portenoy. None of them was paid a penny and they worked very, very hard. Both law firms involved a significant number of associates and paralegals so the defense was, for once, not outgunned. (One of the paralegals mentioned that one day last week was her 31st straight day without time off. I expect she was not unique.).

I hope to summarize key testimony, particularly Billy’s, Portenoy’s and the summations over the weekend for your consideration.

– Best, MB

Mary Baluss, Esq. The Pain Law Initiative

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