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Judge Sticks It To Three Rotten Lawyers
Melbourne Mills' face went from shock to disbelief yesterday as he and co-defendants Shirley Cunningham Jr. and William Gallion were ordered out of a Covington federal courtroom to jail.Just seconds earlier, U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman granted the three suspended lawyers' request to delay a criminal trial until January but immediately revoked the suspended lawyers' bond. As Bertelsman walked off the bench, Hale Almand Jr., a lawyer for Gallion, began to protest as the courtroom erupted. Bertelsman cut him off. "I told you that's what I was going to do," Bertelsman said as he left the courtroom. Mills, Cunningham and Gallion, who were indicted in June on one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, were being held at the Boone County jail last night and may remain there until the January trial. The three suspended lawyers, who used to practice in Lexington, had been free on their own recognizance since June. Defense attorneys for the three men declined to comment on whether they would appeal the decision. Mills, 76, Cunningham, 52, and Gallion, 56, are accused of taking $64 million of a $200 million diet-drug settlement that should have gone to 440 clients in a 2001 Boone Circuit Court case. In 2004, some of the former clients sued the three men in civil court, demanding a full accounting of the settlement money. In 2006, special Judge William Wehr ruled that the suspended lawyers had breached their fiduciary duty to their clients. Last week, Wehr ordered that the three men should have to repay $42 million plus interest to their clients. Wehr also delayed a September civil trial that would decide punitive damages until after the criminal case against the three was completed. Bertelsman's decision came at the end of what was supposed to be a routine status hearing on whether defense lawyers for the three men were going to be ready for an Oct. 15 criminal trial. Defense lawyers told Bertelsman that it was unlikely that they were going to be able to meet the first deadline in the case because of the volume of evidence federal prosecutors had accumulated during the investigation: more than 100 boxes containing 200,000 documents. Stephen Dobson III, a lawyer for Cunningham, told Bertelsman that a contractor who was copying the documents for the defense would not be able to get the documents to the lawyers until the first week of September, weeks after the Aug. 20 deadline for the defense to file motions challenging the government's case. But Bertelsman said he didn't understand why the defense needed all 200,000 documents to prepare their defense. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Voorhees said there were 440 individual client files and records from the Kentucky Bar Association, which temporarily suspended the three lawyers last year, as well as financial records from 25 to 30 banks. Bertelsman said he hesitated to grant a continuance because the civil case has been delayed until the criminal case was completed. Jim Shuffett, an attorney for Mills, said the civil case should not be a consideration because it's far from over. A motion filed in June is asking the Court of Appeals to overturn Wehr's March 2006 decision saying that three suspended lawyers had breached their fiduciary duty. Shuffett said he expected more motions to be filed with the Court of Appeals in coming days. Bertelsman then told defense attorneys that if he delayed the trial, he was thinking of revoking the bond of the three defendants. The judge then gave defense lawyers a 15-minute recess to consider their options. When Bertelsman returned after the recess, he told Voorhees and the defense lawyers that he had concerns about how the delay would appear to the public. "In my opinion, not only are these three men on trial; the whole legal profession is on trial," Bertelsman said. If the trial is delayed, he said, it may appear that the legal system and Bertelsman were part of a conspiracy. Voorhees told Bertelsman that she believed that the defense lawyers should be granted a delay so they could adequately prepare their defense. "We don't want this case to be overturned on appeal," Voorhees said. The prosecution also never asked that the men's bond be revoked or that they be sent to jail. Bertelsman said the three lawyers, if they are convicted, face 20 years in federal prison, not to mention the loss of millions of dollars, so it was in their interest to delay the trial. Regardless, Bertelsman granted the motion, delaying the trial until Jan. 7, and then abruptly remanded the three men to the custody of the U.S. Marshals. Shuffett said after the hearing that the defense lawyers were going to meet to discuss their options. "There is recourse available," Shuffett said, but declined to say what that recourse may be. Defense lawyers for Cunningham and Gallion did not return calls asking for comment. The three suspended lawyers can ask Bertelsman to reconsider his decision and ask for a hearing to determine bond, or they can directly appeal the decision to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Angela Ford, who represents more than 400 former fen-phen clients in the civil lawsuit, said Bertelsman's decision reflects the outrage that many lawyers in Kentucky feel about this case. "He's a very well-respected, no-nonsense judge. It sounds like he was sympathetic to the effect the delays have had on the victims," Ford said. Haw Haw. Looks like they outsmarted themselves. Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-08-11 |
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