Rubashkin v. United States

Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Aleph Institute in support of the petition for certiorari. 

Brief filed: 05/04/2012

Documents

Rubashkin v. United States

United States Supreme Court; Case No. 11-1203

Prior Decision

Decision below 655 F.3d 849 (8th Cir. 2011).

Argument(s)

Extensive ex parte pretrial contacts between the trial judge in the prosecutor in planning the defendant’s arrest and prosecution, coupled with the judge’s failure to disclose those contacts, raise fundamental substantive and procedural due process issues. The court of appeals’ requirement that grounds for granting a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence of judicial misconduct would probably lead to an acquittal was erroneous and the decision below should be reversed.

Author(s)

Nathan M. Crystal, Crystal & Giannoni-Crystal, LLC, Charleston, SC.