Defense rests; (Financier) Stanford won’t testify (in fraud trial)

[TexasTowelie]

The defense has ended its presentation in the R. Allen Stanford fraud trial without calling the accused financier to testify.

Jurors have been told the case is over. They will hear closing arguments on Wednesday after prosecutors and defense attorneys hammer out technical details with the judge.

The question of whether Stanford, 61, would take the stand on his own behalf seemed to be up in the air until the final defense witness wrapped up mid-afternoon, when defense attorneys huddled with their client one last time in private.

When the attorneys returned to Judge David Hittner’s U.S. District courtroom, they announced they had completed their presentation.

http://blog.chron.com/stanford/2012/02/defense-expert-challenges-evidence/

[sonias]

1. White collar criminal

Just watch the court go easy on him. Lets keep in mind that he's accused of a $7 billion Ponzi scheme!

And his defense is now claiming he's mentally incompetent.

Over the weekend, the government urged U.S. District Judge David Hittner to deny the defense’s motion to suppress both emails and statements Stanford would have made while during his stay at Butner Federal Prison in North Carolina. Stanford’s defense team had filed the motion under seal and therefore it is not public.

Prosecutors, in their response, which was not sealed, said the defense claims “a statement made while a defendant is incompetent is an involuntary statement under the Due Process Clause and thus inadmissible as a matter of constitutional law.”

But the government urges Hittner to deny the motion to suppress because “statements made by a mentally incompetent person are not subject to constitutional scrutiny unless police coercion prompted the statements.”

[TexasTowelie]

2. It looks like he has already found out that life isn't a bed of roses.

The photos of his prison beating are graphic:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1327421/Allen-Stanford-beaten-jail-inmates-awaits-trial.html

[sonias]

3. Holy shit!

I didn't know that. And that was at a private prison in Conroe near Houston. Don't mess with Texas prisoners either!

[TexasTowelie]

4. Yes, I read about the beating shortly after it occurred.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

On August 27, 2009, Stanford was admitted into the Conroe, Texas Regional Medical Center. He was being transported from the private prison in Huntsville, Texas to the Federal Courthouse in Houston to attend a hearing concerning his attorney, who had asked the court to be dismissed from Stanford's case. En route, Stanford complained of a racing heart.[39]

On September 26, 2009 it was reported Stanford had been hospitalized due to injuries sustained in a fight with another inmate at the private Joe Corley Detention Facility. His injuries were described as non-life threatening.[40]

On November 8, 2010, it was reported that Stanford had been hospitalized due to severe injuries sustained when he was assaulted by inmates at a for-profit prison, GEO Group's Joe Corley Detention Center, in Conroe, Texas. Photographs showed him with his neck in a brace, his eye half-shut, a bandage wrapped around his head, and shackled hand and foot.[41][42][43][44]

Stanford's trial date was set for January 2011,[45] but this was delayed due to his poor health [46]

Stanford, Federal Bureau of Prisons #35017-183, is incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center, Houston.[47] In February 2011 Stanford issued a counter-claim of $7.2B of damages against the FBI and the SBC.[48]

In May prosecutors dropped seven charges against Stanford, leaving 14 charges ongoing. A trial date has yet to be set due to his poor health.[49]

As of November 5, 2011, Stanford was being held at the Federal Medical Center, Butner, North Carolina, part of the Butner Federal Correctional Complex.[50] Stanford's attorneys claimed that their client was unfit to stand trial due to amnesia resulting from his sustained injuries. On December 22, 2011, however, he was found competent to stand trial by a U.S. District Judge.[51]

While he was severely injured, it does remind me of the "I don't recall" defense that Reagan used in Iran-Contra. I just read that the case has gone to the jury this afternoon so it will be up to them to decide whether his claim of amnesia was substantial. The fact that the defense decided not to provide his testimony leads me to believe that they were concerned that Stanford would get tripped up by the prosecution.

[sonias]

5. I know this is really stretching it

But do you think he paid a few perps in jail to beat him up? I mean so he could claim this "amnesia" or "incompetence" defense. Yes it is harsh but they had to make it believable right?

Of course I don't know anything - I'm just saying that a desperate person not wanting to spend the rest of his life in jail would think of something pretty crazy like this.

[TexasTowelie]

6. Yes, I think that it is possible.

I have to wonder what a man in his sixties could do that would have caused the younger prisoners to attack him. That type of punishment is normally reserved for molesters and pedophiles.

I also have to wonder why the perps would have stopped from killing him considering that he would have been unable to defend himself. It doesn't add up IMHO.