Word: noriega
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...Noriega flap illustrates, the law also has the potential of blocking the funds that suspects need to hire the attorneys of their choice. The measure, complains Neal Sonnett, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, "gives prosecutors the power to disqualify a Clarence Darrow while allowing a more pliable lawyer to remain in the case...
...from attorneys who ought to know better. But critics believe they see darker tactics at work. The feds "usually won't invoke forfeiture if you make a plea bargain," observes Miami lawyer Joel Hirschhorn. "But the minute you plead not guilty, they threaten you with going after the fee." Noriega's lawyers argue that the freezing of his assets may be part of just such a plea- bargaining ploy. They say it is preposterous for prosecutors to claim that Noriega's money came only from drugs...
Prosecutors maintain that public defenders are available to replace private attorneys who dump clients with allegedly tainted funds. But critics note that public defenders, paid by taxpayers, are already swamped by the cases of the indigent. Moreover, says Noriega lawyer Kollin: "The Government picks the top of their crop to prosecute a defendant like Noriega. He deserves the same in his defense attorneys...
...Palacios had better not hold her breath -- and neither should the Panamanians who are still living in tents four months after their homes in Panama City were destroyed by the U.S. invasion that ousted dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega. True, both House and Senate have approved $420 million for Panama and $300 million for Nicaragua, as part of an omnibus bill increasing spending for projects ranging from space research to grasshopper control. But the aid is below what George Bush wanted and well behind schedule. Bush had called for passage by April...
...alleged mastermind of this scheme was a man who knows a good business opportunity when he sees one: Panama's Manuel Antonio Noriega. U.S. immigration officials suspect that the 47 aliens were ultimately headed for New York City's Chinatown and were customers of a lucrative passport-for-sale racket run for several years by Noriega and his cronies. If the deposed strongman was truly a "people-smuggling" kingpin as a sideline to his alleged drug-trafficking business, he was simply cashing in on the upper niche of an industry that is booming at every level. In March federal agents...