Some Interesting Analysis…Will Helio Get his Delay After All?
As mentioned, Helio’s request for a delay in the start of the trial was denied. Discussion with Fred, who is the man, have led me to believe that the rejection of the delay may not have been the final ruling on the matter.
Mark the Attorney (see the play sheet) has formally requested to withdrawal as Helio’s lead attorney. So, if you’re playing along at home, mark him off your sheet. The Sixth Amendment gives Helio the right to the choice of his own counsel. Since Mark the Attorney is unavailable, he can now make David the Attorney the head of his legal counsel.
So why can the date be postponed still? Well, first, the request was rejected because the March date was agreed upon by all of the defense attorneys. David the Attorney was not, and is still not, a declared attorney on the case. Therefore, if he is made, by Helio’s choosing and constitutional right, the head attorney, it is the responsibility of the government to overcome the disadvantage in place by the March date, not Helio’s. Therefore, David the Attorney never agreed to the start date.
David the Attorney has prior commitments that conflict with the March 2 date. The government would then be forced to extend the start date. Similarly, if Helio appoints someone not on the play sheet, they have the right to be given ample time to spin up on the case. This is a case that has been three years in the making. I don’t know that two or three months would be enough to be familiarized with the case.
The real question is what will the Judge do, of course. If the judge forces everything forward as planned, it’ll just open up the window for appeals. If the Judge offers a delay, the delay may not be the November 2009 delay that Helio is looking for to keep his job. If the start is only pushed back to summer, that still leaves Helio (and Penske) in a pickle.
Finally, a quote from Fred:
[B]y the time this is all over, one way or the other, then Helio will have paid legal fees greater than the U. S. income taxes that he has tried to evade from paying.
Update: The request to remove Mark the Attorney was approved by the court.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Sure, Helio has the right to the counsel of his choice, but the new counsel knew of the trial date (no responisble attorney would agree to represent someone without knowing the details of how much time to prepare for the trial). So if the new attorney has a conflict with the already set date, there are three choices:
1) The court can simpathetically grant the continuance,
2) The court can deny the request forcing the defense attorney to resolve the other date conflict or
3) The court can deny the request and Helio can get a new attorney and go to trial in March – but the court does not have to let the current attorney off the case.
Bottom line . . . the federal judge’s discretion. As much as I am a Helio and Indycar fan it appears that the US Attorney’s Office and judge are playing hardball . . .
. . . maybe with Sam ending his NASCAR season with a whimper will bring him back to his roots.