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"Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 03:38:46 PM EST
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Wow. Who would have thought? Great work by New York defense lawyer Joe Bondy, building on work done by the trial lawyers, Ed Hayes and Bruce Cutler. U.S. District Court Jack Weinstein has tossed almost all of the "mafia cops" convictions because the charges were brought after the statute of limitations perios had expired.

In a shell-shocking written order, a federal judge ruled today that, despite overwhelming evidence of "heinous and violent crimes," the two retired detectives at the center of what has been termed the Mafia Cops corruption case should be acquitted of all federal racketeering charges -- including eight murders -- because the statute of limitations in their case had run out.

....Louis J. Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa.... were found guilty in April of some of the most spectacular corruption charges in the city's history. Although a jury found that Mr. Eppolito and Mr. Caracappa had participated, as paid assassins, in killings for the mob, the judge's order vacated the racketeering convictions on legal -- if not evidentiary -- grounds.

As to the 102 page ruling:

The ruling, in a 102-page order, was the latest -- and most severe -- turn yet in a 15-month case that has already seen more turns than a Ferris wheel. It sent shockwaves through the United States attorney's office in Brooklyn, which prosecuted the case. It sent a surge of triumphant joy through the offices of the two men's lawyers. It threatened to disrupt the careers -- and the book deals -- of some investigators in the case, some of whom have been working on it for the last 10 years. And, of course, it led to the utterly bizarre prospect that the two defendants -- whom the judge accused in his order of being killers -- could walk free from a federal jail in Brooklyn as early as next week.

The judge did not find fault with Ed Hayes or Bruce Cutler, the defense lawyers who tried the case:

Judge Weinstein did not find fault with the defense. He also said in court that even though the government's case was weak, it was enough -- "just barely" -- to convict. "It was not a strong case," the judge acknowledged last month, "and the government was warned that from Day 1 . There is a sound basis for appeal."

....Today The Associated Press quoted Mr. Caracappa's former lawyer, Mr. Hayes, as saying: "I am very happy. It's exactly what we argued during the trial. I am very happy for my client, and I do feel it is a vindication of our trial strategy."

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    • "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out | 13 comments (13 topical)
    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#1)
    by scribe on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 03:52:04 PM EST
    I think he ruled correctly. Nice lawyering, too. As much as it makes my skin crawl to see the plainly guilty get off, the Judge was right on this. He also made clear, though, that these men committed some of the most heinous crimes committed in the Eastern District. Given that, as the news articles have reported, there has been no NY State trial or conviction on the murders they were found to have committed (they felt the cases were too hard to make, when compared to the federal racketeering case), I speculate they might walk out of the federal lockup right into the state's. No statute of limitations on murder in NY. As to the book deals, the cynic in me says this will only help, because a nice twist (like this) makes the books more interesting.

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 04:19:45 PM EST
    Am I reading the wrong novels? I always thought there was no statute of limitations on murder?

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 04:36:06 PM EST
    There is already a movement to remove statute of limitations in some cases. This will probably be added to the list.

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#4)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 04:44:37 PM EST
    Great lawyering? ianal, but isn't the statute of limitations something that's as obvious as the nose on your face? The prosecution should be shot. They sound as competent as DA Nifong on the Duke case...

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#5)
    by scribe on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 04:44:46 PM EST
    Nooo. It's real complicated because it was in federal court. The federal case was built around a racketeering conspiracy charge (RICO), in which predicate acts for the racketeering conspiracy were some murders, other crimes and most recently, selling some meth. To be a valid racketeering conspiracy case, all the elements of that crime, and at least one of the predicate acts, had to occur within the 5 years preceding the indictment. The meth sale was within the 5 years, but the other predicates were not. As I understand it, the judge decided that the meth sale was not a part of the same conspiracy as the murders and other predicates, so the racketeering conspiracy case would have to fail. Now, the interesting question is whether proving the murders and other crimes as predicates for the racketeering conspiracy and subsequent invalidation of that conviction will constitute a bar to the murders being prosecuted in state court (where, you correctly note, there is no statute of limitations on murder qua murder). The reason for a bar on that prosecution would be double jeopardy, but it's a question whose answer I don't know. Ordinarily, something called the "Dual Sovereign" or "Two Sovereigns" doctrine allows both the state government and federal government to prosecute someone for the same criminal act, so long as the elements of the crime charged in state court are different from those in federal court. The cops prosecuted for beating Rodney King come to mind. They were acquitted in state court of beating him, but then prosecuted in federal court for the different crime of violating his civil rights. Different elements in federal court = different crime = No double jeopardy bar, said the Supreme Court. But, since in this case the proof of racketeering conspiracy (under RICO) would require proving the underlying state-law crime of murder (i.e., the state-law elements had to be proven), I think a colorable double jeopardy argument could be made to bar their prosecution in state court because those elements had already been proven once and could not be proven again without violating double jeopardy. I'm sure of three things - the Brooklyn DA is probably in front of a Grand jury now seeking indictments, these two guys won't be going home to Vegas anytime soon, and the Second Circuit will have its say, and maybe the Supreme Court, too.

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#6)
    by Sailor on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 05:26:38 PM EST
    The statute of limitations applies to murder!?

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 08:10:08 PM EST
    This is a smackdown for (these and future) jurors, witnesses and victim's families too. Why did the judge allow the trial to go forward when this point was raised by defense lawyers in the very beginning?

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#8)
    by Johnny on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 10:27:52 PM EST
    Narius? You here? We need some bloodthirsty invectives... Seriously... Good to see that the crime does not dictate the procedure.

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 07:06:00 AM EST
    Why did the judge allow the trial to go forward when this point was raised by defense lawyers in the very beginning?
    Because the judge decided this on a post-verdict motion, the prosecutor can appeal. If the judge had made this ruling earlier, stopping the tria by a directed verdict, double jeopardy would bar an appeal and retrial . . .

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 07:29:34 AM EST
    I understand that the most recent murder was committed in 1991, which should make it fairly difficult to prosecute at the state level,notwithstanding the lack of a statute of limitations.

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 08:02:10 AM EST
    Because the judge decided this on a post-verdict motion, the prosecutor can appeal. If the judge had made this ruling earlier, stopping the tria by a directed verdict, double jeopardy would bar an appeal and retrial . .
    Thanks for the explanation. It's my understanding of this that the issue of the SoL was raised early and the judge said it didn't apply so that the trial continued as charged. The jury deliberated on those facts, reaching verdicts on the instructions given by the judge allowing the SoL issue to not be a factor. The judge then wipes out the verdits based on the issue that the SoL did actually apply?

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#12)
    by Peter G on Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 10:50:13 AM EST
    This is one of those cases, for the reasons explained by Scribe at 5:44 (first para.), where the SOL issue depends on a determination of the facts. Therefore, there had to be a trial first, to see whether the meth sales were part of the same conspiracy (criminal agreement) as the murders. Judge Weinstein (one of our most experienced, brilliant and fairminded federal judges, by the way, a former law professor at Columbia Univ. and author of a multi-volume treatise on evidence law) no doubt instructed the jury on this issue. The jury, by its verdict, found that it *was* the same conspiracy. By setting that aside, the judge has decided the evidence was insufficient to persuade a rational jury of this fact. (This is plausible, since evidence of the heinous murder plot would be more likely to influence a jury's decision on what must seem like a "technicality" than it would a judge's). This sets up the government's appeal rights. There is no double jeopardy bar to the govt's appeal, since if they win, the verdict of the jury can be reinstated without the necessity of a second trial. Meanwhile, I think the chances of these defendants' being granted bail during the gov't's appeal, as the press has speculated, are negligible. I think Scribe has missed the point a little on the question of whether double jeopardy would bar a NY State court trial for murder, where there is no SOL. The question is not whether there is a DJ bar under the US Const (under the "dual sovereigns" rule, there isn't) but rather whether there is a bar under the NY State Constitution or any NY State statute -- any NY criminal lawyer who reads this site can answer that question. As a Penna. guy, I can't.

    Re: "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 11:27:25 AM EST
    Here is New York's Law:
    40.20. Previous prosecution; when a bar to second prosecution 1. A person may not be twice prosecuted for the same offense. 2. A person may not be separately prosecuted for two offenses based upon the same act or criminal transaction unless: (a) The offenses as defined have substantially different elements and the acts establishing one offense are in the main clearly distinguishable from those establishing the other; or (b) Each of the offenses as defined contains an element which is not an element of the other, and the statutory provisions defining such offenses are designed to prevent very different kinds of harm or evil; or (c) One of such offenses consists of criminal possession of contraband matter and the other offense is one involving the use of such contraband matter, other than a sale thereof; or (d) One of the offenses is assault or some other offense resulting in physical injury to a person, and the other offense is one of homicide based upon the death of such person from the same physical injury, and such death occurs after a prosecution for the assault or other non-homicide offense; or (e) Each offense involves death, injury, loss or other consequence to a different victim; or (f) One of the offenses consists of a violation of a statutory provision of another jurisdiction, which offense has been prosecuted in such other jurisdiction and has there been terminated by a court order expressly founded upon insufficiency of evidence to establish some element of such offense which is not an element of the other offense, defined by the laws of this state; or (g) The present prosecution is for a consummated result offense, as defined in subdivision three of section 20.10, which occurred in this state and the offense was the result of a conspiracy, facilitation or solicitation prosecuted in another state. (h) One of such offenses is enterprise corruption in violation of section 460.20 of the penal law, racketeering in violation of federal law or any comparable offense pursuant to the law of another state and a separate or subsequent prosecution is not barred by section 40.50 of this article.


    "Mafia Cops" Convictions Thrown Out | 13 comments (13 topical)