(Photo by Jennifer S. Altman/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Like the rhythm, Brady violations are gonna get ya.
Embattled attorney Michael Avenatti has secured a mistrial in his federal trial in California on wire fraud charges. U.S. District Judge James Selna found the prosecution failed to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence from the Tax and Bookkeeping Solutions “TABS” software, as issue Avenatti brought up during the trial.
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As reported by Law360:
Avenatti asked Special Agent Remoun Karlous of the U.S. Treasury Department on the witness stand last week why the government didn’t locate or present TABS from data seized from his firm’s server. Karlous said that TABS data may have been filtered out by the government’s so-called taint team, which is walled off from the prosecution team and reviews seized materials to determine if they are protected by attorney-client privilege
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the failure was an oversight caused by the volume of data reviewed by the taint team. Though the judge said there was no evidence of misconduct on the government’s part, he also said an adjournment would not cure the problem:
“I think the defendant was denied an opportunity to craft an overall theory of the case … in his opening statement by not having possession of this material,” the judge said, explaining why he didn’t support the prosecution’s proposal to adjourn the trial to give Avenatti time to review the material and present it to the jury.
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The former Above the Law Lawyer of the Year reacted to the judge’s order:
“This has been an incredibly difficult journey for my family, for my children for my friends and lastly, for me. I am extremely thankful to Mr. Steward, Ms. Cummings Cefali and our entire team for standing by me and advocating tirelessly on my behalf," Avenatti said.
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) August 24, 2021
A new trial is set for October 11. That had been the date for the second phase of the bifurcated trial, focused on allegations Avenatti lied to former clients about settlement details.
He was previously sentenced to 30 months in jail for trying to extort Nike in a settlement hearing.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).