Gearing Up for Today’s 3:00pm Status Hearing
A lot is on Judge Lynn Leibovitz’ plate this afternoon.
Key defense motions awaiting rulings include those for severance (separate trials) and those to suppress the defendants’ statements of their interrogations on the night of the murder, informally the Miranda challenges.
It’s just over a month away from the scheduled...
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Government Tries to Keep the Threesome Together
Another piece of business before Judge Lynn Leibovitz at this Monday’s status hearing is on the Defendants’ Motions to Sever and hold separate trials for the three housemates.
A couple weeks ago we guessed on how much confidence the Front Four have in these pleas; not much we surmised. Now we get...
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Govt’s Streamlined Case Up Ends the C.W. Who Wins and Loses?
Friday’s status hearing revealed that the government was “winnowing” their case as the May 10 trial date draws near.
By dropping many of the uncharged conducted aspects and focusing only on the charges against the defendants, the government dramatically changed the contours of the trial.
With this...
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Swann Street Swoons
At Friday’s status hearing we learned that the defense team submitted a joint motion for special assignment, a request of Chief Judge Lee Satterfield that the man presiding over the Wone case, Judge Frederick Weisberg, stay on until completion of the May 2010 trial.
At issue is whether another judge, Lynn Leibowitz inherits Weisberg’s...
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The Defense Pushes Hard and the Court Pushes Back.
The day’s legal action began long before Judge Frederick Weisberg gaveled in the status hearing at 2:01pm.
The defense this week has filed a range of motions – one to have Judge Weisberg permanently attached to the case (Rule 106), one to exclude the “unsubstantiated charges” –...
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What Sept. 11th’s Transcript Foretells of Nov. 6th’s Hearing
At 54 pages, the transcript of September 11th’s status hearing may seem a dry read. “53 pages too much of legal jaw-boning…” perhaps. But text is important. Text is memory made real. And like a great dramatic work, while drained of its live human electricity, the...
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The Maryland Campaign
Late Friday afternoon, Mike Scarcella of the Legal Times had news on the latest skirmish in Kathy Wone’s $20 million wrongful death civil suit.
Any small victory the defendants may have felt following Judge Weisberg’s September status hearing in the criminal case was likely beat back by Judge Brook Hedge, sitting in the civil...
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Another Status Hearing, And Very Little Resolved
We will be posting an in-depth summation of today’s status hearing in front of Judge Weisberg shortly.
The long and short of the hour-plus hearing is the number of contested items between the prosecution and defense teams has been whittled down, but the disagreements that remain are more substantial. ...
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Getting Ready for Friday’s Status Hearing
Nearly four months have passed since last we saw the Swann Street defendants in court. The summer has fled, and this Friday’s forecast calls for gray skies, suits and expressions.
The headline from the last hearing (May 22) was of course the trial date being set. The other big news was...
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A Friend is Slain in Your Home? STFU
One of the more unsettling aspects of the then-suspects’, now defendants’ puzzling behavior following Robert’s murder was their complete silence on both their friend’s death and their own innocence.
None of the three Swann Street housemates found it necessary to distance themselves from the crime by way of public...
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On August 2nd, 2006, Washington attorney Robert E. Wone was murdered at 1509 Swann Street. Over two years passed before any criminal charges were filed - and then only conspiracy, obstruction of justice and crime scene tampering charges were brought against the Swann Street housemates, all present in the home on the night of the murder: Joe Price, Dylan Ward and Victor Zaborsky.
On May 17, 2010, a DC Superior Court trial got underway and all three defendants were all acquitted in that bench trial on those pending charges.
Nearly four years later, very little seems clear about what happened that night and who murdered Robert Wone. A cloud of suspicion remains over the Swann Street defendants who have denied any involvement in the murder of their friend or in the alleged cover up.
Judge Lynn Leibovitz found a moral certainty in their collective guilt, but not evidentiary certainty. Civil proceedings in a wrongful death suit filed by Robert's family is the next chapter in this tragic story.
We continue to work together seeking answers to the mystery of Robert Wone's murder and in finding justice for his memory and legacy.
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