Criminal Justice
Can Guards Shoot Attorney Marc Dreier? Judge Requests Research Memo
Posted Feb 3, 2009 12:52 PM CST
By Martha Neil
Before he decides whether to release prominent attorney Marc Dreier on reduced bail, under house arrest, a federal judge has asked lawyers for the accused architect of some $400 million in alleged financial schemes to research an unusual legal question.
It is, according to the New York Daily News: Can his armed guards shoot to kill if Dreier should attempt to escape?
During a Monday hearing in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff "asked prosecutors and Dreier's lawyers to research the issue before he decides whether to free Dreier on bail with 24-hour armed security," the newspaper reports.
Dreier earlier had been granted bail of $20 million. However, that amount is too high for the now-penniless founder of the Dreier law firm to post, according to his lawyer, who is appealing for reduced bond.
Rakoff, though, is not bound by that decision. In arguing against bail, "the government has suggested that Dreier has access to hidden funds and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Streeter said some of Dreier's co-conspirators still may be at large," reports the New York Law Journal.
A bail decision is expected by Friday.
Updated at 4:12 p.m. to include information from New York Law Journal article.
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Comments
B. McLeod
Feb 3, 2009 4:36 PM CST
He must mean to research whether the guards may rightfully shoot to kill (unless the judge is worried that maybe they really can’t shoot or something).
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Allen Sheketovits
Feb 4, 2009 5:37 AM CST
Comment removed by moderator.
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fed up
Feb 4, 2009 4:45 PM CST
It is a matter of justifiable homicide. One of our largest trading partners, People’s Republic of China, routinely uses capital punishment for white collar crimes. If you buy anything made in China (that’s most of us) you already indirectly support justifiable homicide for white collar crimes. Justifiable homicide could be expanded, perhaps under the castle doctrine, to include theft of your money/bank account by the Dreiers and Madoffs of the world. An ordinary citizen, Joe Horn of Pasadena, Texas, was cleared in the shooting of burglary suspects on a neighbor’s property. How much of a stretch is it to expand that doctrine to Dreier or Madoff who took people’s life savings? Justifiable homicide is no longer reserved just for the poor, minorities, or mentally disabled.
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