No evidence supports claim US magistrate was aware of husband's affair with probe target, judge says
A New Orleans businesswoman charged with Medicaid fraud is not entitled to a hearing on whether the federal magistrate judge who approved search warrants was neutral and detached, a federal judge has ruled.
The businesswoman, Lisa Crinel, had sought a hearing to determine whether U.S. Magistrate Karen Wells Roby was aware her husband was having an affair with Crinel at the time she approved the warrants.
In a July 28 ruling (PDF), U.S. District Susie Morgan of New Orleans said conjecture about the magistrate’s knowledge is insufficient to warrant an evidentiary hearing. The New Orleans Times Picayune covered the decision.
“An evidentiary hearing is not a ‘discovery proceeding’ in which the defendant is given free license to fish for evidence,” Morgan wrote. The judge cited a lack of any evidence that Roby was aware of the affair or that her husband, New Orleans lawyer Clarence Roby, represented Crinel.
Crinel wanted the hearing to support her motion to suppress evidence seized during the raid of her business, Abide Home Health Services.
Crinel also alleged millions of dollars in her assets were seized in violation of her equal protection rights, because she is an African American woman who was treated differently from similarly situated white male defendants. Morgan rejected the claim.
Crinel claims in a separate malpractice suit against Clarence Roby that his representation of her despite conflicts of interest constituted malpractice.
Related article:
ABAJournal.com: “Suit claims lawyer continued affair with his client after his wife, a US magistrate, OK’d search”
