| In Nike Extortion Trial
Jurors Ask If Avenatti Had To Sue Before A
Settlement Agreement
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Thread
Song
Patreon
BBC
- Decrypt
- LightReading - ESPN Radio
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Feb 13 – In the countdown of
the US v. Michael Avenatti
Nike extortion trial, on
February 10 the charging
conference was held, until
7:10 pm. See Patreon here.
On February
12, after the reading of a
slightly tweeked jury charge,
the jury got the case to
deliberate. On February 13,
things got confusing, or
confused. The jury asked a
number of questions, some of
which Judge Paul G. Gardephe
expressed frustration at. He
told the jury they could leave
for the day but to clarify one
of its questions, about
recording(s) of the March 21
meeting involving Avenatti.
Before
that the dispute concerned the
jury's question about what
inferences they can draw from
evidence allowed in to show
state of mind. Judge Gardephe
insisted, over resistance from
Avenatti's lawyers, that he
must tell they jury they
cannot draw inferences as to
the truth from such state of
mind exhibits. But he also
declined to give the jury the
examples they were requesting.
Another
question had a simple answer.
Is a filing of a lawsuit
request in order to reach a
settlement agreement? The
answer was and is No. Day's
live-tweeted thread here.
More on Patreon here.
There is
much prognosticating about
what the questions mean,
whether or not they are good
for the defense. For now,
here's audio of a question and
answer Inner City Press did on
the evening of February 12
with ESPN Louisville, here.
More
on Patreon here.
The day before on
February 12 the jurors emerged
in late afternoon to request
to hear one of the Avenatti
phone calls (Inner City Press
has put them on Soundcloud here
and here
and a song here),
and requesting text messages
between Gary Franklin and
Jeffrey Auerbach.
More on Patreon here.
On
February 11, over hours, the
closing arguments were held.
Inner City Press live-tweeted
them, in 96 installments, here.
Assistant
US Attorney Matthew Podolsky
led off with the now famous
"have you held the clients
balls in your hands" audio,
and went on from there.
Avenatti's
lawyer Scott Srebnick covered
the case focusing on the
desired and goals of client
Gary Franklin and his
consultant Jeffrey Auerbach.
His brother
Howard Srebnick followed with
the case from the perspective
of Avenatti in New York,
saying he was carring out
Franklin's stated desire to
"light the fuse" for justice.
AUSA
Daniel Richenthal derided that
narrative, and told the jury
it didn't matter that Mark
Geragos, much less Nike, were
not charged. But might it,
when the jury begins to
deliberate on February
12? More on Patreon here.
Next
are the jury charge and
deliberations - and verdict.
Watch this platform. US v. Avenatti,
19-cr-373 (Gardephe).
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com for
|
,
