1509 Swann Street: Back on the Market
Over the past two and a half years, we’ve trawled real estate sites to get pictures of the interior of 1509 Swann Street.  We studied the cutaway scale model of the dwelling that was schlepped in and out of Judge Leibovitz’ courtroom last summer, and have walked by that house so many times that we’ve lost count.

Hours have been spent staring at the facade and peering into the backyard with the foolish hope the house would somehow reveal some of its many secrets.

If the walls could talk, we thought, because the defendants so far have refused to. Sunday saw us inside the home for the first time. An recent on-again, off-again sales history is now back on - and there was an open house that afternoon.

It was everything that anyone would expect in a $1.6M DuPont listing: well decorated, nicely appointed and staged within an inch square foot of its life, and advertised as “FIVE FLRS OF ELEGANT LIVING.”

The open house also had plenty of traffic during the 30 minutes we spent in there, and not all of those people looked like serious buyers.  Some who were in there paced the halls deliberately, almost reverentially, revisiting rooms a second and third time, all under the watchful eyes of two realtors.

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At Least The Date Is…

When Judge Rankin set the date for the next status hearing he noted that “Cinco De Mayo” was available.  Somehow we don’t think that he was intending to celebrate the Spanish holiday that commemorates the Mexican Army’s unlikely victory over the French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

But, by scheduling a hearing on 5-5, we are wishful, though doubtful, that he was signaling he would rule on the 5th Amendment issues that have become the monkey’s wrench in preventing the plaintiff from seeking additional information about what happened during those 79 minutes at 1509 Swann Street on August 2nd, 2006.

Kathy Wone’s counsel, Ben Razi, made it perfectly clear at the last status hearing that the primary information missing from this case is not the evidence from the police.  The missing information, the plaintiff contends, is the answers to the plaintiffs’ 500 questions on a wide-range of issues from the mundane such as when did the defendants first meet Robert, to the revelatory such as their “violent sexual practices.”  The defendants are not answering any of these questions by asserting a blanket 5th amendment privilege.

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Tuesday’s Motions Hearing

It was hard to get a grasp on Judge Michael Rankin’s style today.  He started the hearing fifteen minutes late and played the Absent Minded Professor Jurist (AMJ) with us.  After taking his seat on the bench he admitted to forgetting the password to the computer on his desk.  “You must remember it,” he said to what seemed like no one in particular in 517.  ‘Try ‘password,’ lead plaintiff attorney Ben Razi replied. The stage was set for what turned out to be a brief yet sometimes amusing session.

At the December status, the room was fat with counsel, today, there were several no-shows, in particular Robert Spagnoletti, counsel for defendant Dylan Ward, and plaintiff co-counsel (and gunslinger) Patrick Regan.  Later in the session however, another attorney would be channeling his “energy.”

“Standing in” for the Spag was a familiar face from those hazy, crazy but hardly lazy days of summer, Schertler & Onorato’s Veronica Jennings, a regular fixture in Judge Leibovitz’s courtroom during the criminal trial.

Also MIA was any counsel for Defendant Victor Zaborsky, neither Hunt Valley, Maryland, attorneys Frank Daily or Sean Edwards were in the house.  Noting their absence, Rankin said, “Someone had no interest… and didn’t drive in from Baltimore…”  

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In and Out

Boy, were we ever wrong about what was on tap for today’s status hearing.

Sooner or later, probably later, Judge Michael Rankin may get around to hearing arguments and ruling on the stack of 5th Amendment motions that are piling up on his desk, but today he had one item only on his plate, the MPD Motions to Quash police detectives’ testimony, and the defense’s opposition.

We were in and out in 30 minutes and left courtroom 517 without a very clear picture of Rankin’s style.  At first blush, we thought him to be a cross between Weisbgerg and Leibovitz.  Nah, maybe not the best description.

In any event, a full post on the short hearing comes up tomorrow morning.

Hint: The password is…

Pre-Gaming Today’s Motions Hearing

At Tuesday’s 2:00pm motions hearing, Judge Michael Rankin will more than likely hear arguments on one of the most pressing issues that has hung over the civil trial’s discovery process – the plaintiff’s repeated attempts to get the defendants to answer questions (as many as 500) in written form via roggs, or by way of spoken word during those tense and one-sided depositions.

Since this controvery first erupted last November, the tale of the tape shows a slew of posts covering the tidal wave of plaintiff and defense motions that have been filed and bickered over: here, here, here, here, here, here and here.  Oh yeah, here too, last week. 

The 5th Amendment also came up during the December status hearing. 

And they still haven’t gotten this figured out?

Robert Spagnoletti, the summer criminal trial’s top jock on constitutional issues will probably handle the chores today for the defense this time as well, squaring off against Covington’s Ben Razi, lead counsel for the plaintiffs.  If their December sparring was any indication, today’s hearing will no doubt leave us with writers’ cramp. (Thanks DC Courts for not allowing recording devices at proceedings!) 

What else could be in store today?  Another depo – that of former MPD Detective Bryan Waid’s testimony.  The new defense opposition was filed that takes strong exception with the DC AG’s argument that the murder investigation’s former top cop is protected by law enforcement privilege.  The new filings follow  and some other familiar detective names surface too.

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Breaking News

Mark your calendars. We’re going back to Moultrie, Moultrie, Moultrie…
Event Scheduled Event Scheduled
Event: Motion Hearing
Date: 04/19/2011 Time: 2:00 pm
Judge: RANKIN, MICHAEL L   Location: Courtroom 517

Defense Sticks to their 5th Amendment Claims

In response to repeated Plaintiff motions to get the three Swann Street defendants to answer deposition and interrogatory questions, the defense filed their Joint Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Answers to Requests for Admission and Interrogatories. 

Or in shorthand, Get Bent Ben.

One two seperate occasions since the first of the year, and as recently as last week, counsel for Plaintiff Kathy Wone have filed paper asking Judge Michael Rankin to rule on this issue.

This fight goes way back – the defendants’ adamant refusal to answer almost every single question lobbed to them, in written form in the interrogatories and face-to-face, in the depos. 

Neither side will budge. The ball remains in Rankin’s court, pardon the pun, and he appears to be taking his sweet-ass time either ruling on this issue or scheduling oral arguments so it can be hashed out, mano-a-mano.

The latest filing and the defense arguments follow.

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