Word: medinae
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Since the trial started under Judge Medina (and without a jury) 16 months ago, 1,200 exhibits have been introduced, more than 5,000,000 words of testimony put on the record. So far, the case has cost the defendants-and U.S. taxpayers-millions of dollars. The issues at stake are huge; if the Government wins, there will be what one expert called a "revolution" in the U.S. money market. Since the firms on trial handle the bulk of all negotiated underwritten security issues, a decision against them would permit the Government to lay down rules to change virtually...
Almost since the trial's start, Judge Medina has had a hard time finding out exactly what the trustbusters' case is. Red-faced and quizzical, he has upbraided the Justice Department's lawyers time & again for "shilly-shallying," "going backwards," confusing the issues and wasting the court's time. Alternately benign and snappish with both sides, he has described his job, which keeps him working twelve hours a day even on Weekends, as "heartbreaking." Once, when a defense lawyer referred to some testimony introduced on "March 17," Medina wearily asked: "Which year...
...witness was Harold L. Stuart, 70, head of Chicago's huge Halsey, Stuart investment banking house and a longtime friend of Cyrus Eaton, Fair-Dealing financier blamed by many Wall Streeters for stirring the Government into action in the first place. Stuart was there as an expert, and Medina was glad to see him. He welcomed him as "a real live witness who can tell me about this investment-banking business . . . instead of staying in the dark, as I stayed for over a year...
Then Kramer tried to weasel his way out of the hole. If he could not prove conspiracy on dozens of securities issues, Kramer hoped Judge Medina would decide against the bankers if the U.S. could show that the "defendants . . . have engaged in price-fixing for a single, particular security issue...
...Dean did not let Kramer get away with it. Dean quoted chapter & verse from a Government statement of 14 months ago: "There will be no amendment to change our course of action . . ." The Government had said flatly that the case would stand or fall on the overall conspiracy charge. Medina seemed amazed at the new turn of events. "This is the first time," said he, ". . . that the Government [has indicated] that if it lost completely on . . . the overall conspiracy charged, they would still be entitled to a decree on an issue not charged . . . It is a pretty slippery position." Medina...