NCJ Number
147195
Journal
ABA Journal Dated: (February 1991) Pages: 18
Date Published
1991
Length
1 page
Annotation
In a pointed rebuke of "megatrials," a U.S. district judge in Chicago has ordered prosecutors to divide a trial of 38 indicted El Rukn street-gang members into five separate trials.
Abstract
Criminal defense lawyers view this decision by Judge Marvin Aspen as a reflection of the growing uneasiness among judges about mass trials under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The Aspen opinion relies on earlier Federal court decisions from New York and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: United States v. Gallo, (1987) and United States v. Casamento (1989). In rejecting a mass trial, Judge Aspen said such a trial could last a year and cost taxpayers at least $1.6 million for court-appointed attorneys, many of whom would sit idle for much of the time. Aspen wrote in his opinion that such a trial would lead to "unconscionable delays in many of our other trials" and would place enormous personal burdens on jurors, defendants, and defense lawyers. The opinion suggests it would be nearly impossible for jurors to sort through a "virtual warehouse of evidence" and follow jury instructions that cover several hundred pages. U.S. prosecutors filed an 80-page response to Aspen's order, prompting the court to revise its trial plan, which called for an April date for the first El Rukn trial. A motion to reconsider is pending.