The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

D.C. Appeals Court Affirms Exclusion of Forensic Science Report in Assault Case

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals today affirmed the conviction of Rashaun Gee, who was accused of breaking into a Southeast Washington home in 2008 and repeatedly stabbing and attempting to sexually assault one of the female residents.

The decision (PDF) is the latest from the city's highest court to limit the role that a 2009 congressionally mandated report on the forensic sciences plays in criminal proceedings and appeals. In Gee's case, his lawyer argued that the trial judge was wrong to prevent him from using sections of the report during cross-examination that questioned the reliability of fingerprint analysis.

The three-judge appellate panel disagreed, finding that the sections of the report at issue weren't a "learned treatise," a term referring to a text that is considered authoritative and can be used to question experts. The appeals court found that Gee's lawyer failed to present any evidence that the section on fingerprint analysis was a "reliable authority" and accepted by the scientific community.

The Morning Wrap

Specter Dies: Former Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) died Sunday from complications of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The five-term senator, who was the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman from 2005 to 2007, was 82.

D.C. Homicides: Murders are difficult to solve and prosecute in Washington despite a drop in homicides from a peak of 482 in 1991 to 108 last year, The Washington Post reports. The newspaper reviewed almost 2,300 homicides in D.C. between 2000 and 2011, finding that less than a third have brought a murder or manslaughter conviction.

Giant Leap: Austrian Felix Baumgartner went supersonic on Sunday, jumping from a balloon that was more than 24 miles above Earth's surface to break the world record for the highest skydive, Space.com reports. "I know the whole world is watching now, and I wish the world could see what I see," Baumgartner said before the jump. "And sometimes you have to go up really high to see how small you really are."

The Morning Wrap

Isaac: Delaying the start of the Republican National Convention to Tuesday, Tropical Storm Isaac approached the Tampa Bay area on Sunday with heavy rain and strong winds, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Isaac likely will bring three inches of rain to the Tampa Bay area, with storm totals of up to 15 inches. The storm is expected to strengthen to a hurricane and make landfall in Louisiana.

Obama, Romney: President Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney are running neck and neck as they go into the conventions, The Washington Post reports. Romney is at 47 percent among registered voters and Obama at 46 percent, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Apple: The $1.05 billion verdict Apple Inc. obtained on Friday against Samsung Electronics Co. in their smartphone and tablet trial will stand as the largest patent verdict in history if it isn't reduced in post-trial motions or on appeal, The Recorder reports.

Pfizer Agrees to $15M Penalty in FCPA Prosecution

A subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. that paid out millions of dollars in bribes for nearly a decade has agreed to a $15 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation.

The subsidiary, Pfizer H.C.P., paid more than $2 million in bribes to government officials in Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan and Russia, according to charges the government announced today. The company, which entered a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ, admitted making more than $7 million in profit via the misconduct.

“Pfizer took short cuts to boost its business in several Eurasian countries, bribing government officials in Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan and Russia to the tune of millions of dollars,” Mythili Raman, a principal assistant attorney general in the DOJ Criminal Division, said in a prepared statement.

Raman also said DOJ "recognizes the significant efforts the company made to eliminate such improper practices, not only by implementing compliance reforms, but also by assisting U.S. authorities in our ongoing FCPA investigations of other companies and individuals.”

Federal Circuit Weighs New Precedent in Human Gene Patentability Case

This morning marked a reunion of sorts for the parties involved in a controversial dispute over whether isolated human genes are patentable. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled last year that they are, but was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to take another look in light of new, possibly related precedent.

The defendants in the case, which include Myriad Genetics Inc., have been fighting challenges to patents on two genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation filed the original suit in May 2009, claiming the genes are "products on nature" and can't be patented.

Following the federal circuit's ruling last July that such genes are patentable, the Supreme Court issued a decision in March in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories Inc. In Mayo, the court found that the patents at issue in that case involved the "laws of nature," which they ruled couldn't be patented. Shortly after issuing the Mayo decision, the high court vacated the federal circuit's ruling in Myriad and asked it to reconsider the case in light of its findings in Mayo.

Attorney Tapped to Lead D.C. Office of Boards and Commissions

Washington Mayor Vincent Gray (D) announced today that he has appointed a long-time local attorney, Darryl Gorman, to lead the city's Office of Boards and Commissions.

The office recruits candidates to the city's 150-plus boards and commissions, processes their applications and supports them during the mayoral appointment process.

Gorman has been a member of the D.C. Bar since 1977. He spent the past year as an independent management consultant to government agencies, and served from 2009 to 2011 as the deputy executive director of state and federal programs for the public school system in Detroit.

After the Storm, Pepco's Lawyers Have a Job to Do, Too

The violent storm that tore across the mid-Atlantic region last Friday night left millions without power and a massive recovery effort for public utility companies. As crews with Pepco – the utility company that provides electricity to D.C. and Montgomery County, Md. – went to work, so did the company's lawyers.

The storm left 443,000 of Pepco's 788,000 customers without power. As of today, about three-quarters of those outages were resolved, according to Pepco. Jack Strausman, a deputy general counsel for Pepco Holdings Inc., said in an interview that the company's lawyers, like all other employees, have a pre-defined "storm role." Pepco Holdings is the parent company of Pepco, Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric.

For the company's 23 lawyers, their storm role is staffing what's called the "escalated call team." If a customer calls Pepco and isn't satisfied with the response they get, they're transferred to a member of the "escalated" team, Strausman said. "The lawyers are essentially the end of the line for customers calling in during the event."

With Health Care Ruling, Surprise, Jubilation and Angry Calls for Repeal

By Legal Times Staff

As news spread of today's U.S. Supreme Court ruling largely upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the reaction in the crowd outside the court mirrored responses around Washington, with almost equal parts surprise, elation and outrage.

In the hours leading up to the announcement, hundreds of supporters, opponents and spectators gathered on the sidewalk in front of the court. One group knelt in prayer. Others marched in circles to a drumbeat. Chants ranged from, "Hey hey, ho ho, Obamacare has got to go" and "Tyranny never, freedom forever," to "We love Obamacare."

A cheer went up as opponents of the law heard that its key provision, the so-called individual mandate, had been struck down. But then they heard that perhaps it hadn't. The crowd grew quiet as demonstrators consulted with one another and their electronic devices to find out what exactly had happened, and a new cheer rose up from supporters of the law as they learned that the Court had, in fact, ruled in their favor.

Calls from Republican lawmakers and conservative interest groups to repeal the law came swiftly. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney pledged to push for repeal if elected. "Obamacare was bad law yesterday, it is bad law today," he said at a press conference today.

D.C. Jury Awards $5M for Failure to Screen for Cancer

Updated at 6:12 p.m.

A District of Columbia Superior Court jury recently awarded more than $5 million to the family of a man who died of colon cancer last year, finding that his doctor was liable for failing to properly screen him for cancer for 16 years.

Ronald Berger, 69, died in December following four years of chemotherapy treatment. From 1992 until his diagnosis in 2008, however, Berger's family claimed that his Washington-based doctor, Dr. Francis Chucker, failed to perform the full scope of screening laid out in guidelines from national health organizations. Berger's family filed a lawsuit alleging malpractice against Chucker in July 2010.

The trial began June 11 and the jury began deliberating on June 20. They returned a verdict the next day in favor of Berger's family, awarding $5.36 million. The Berger family's attorney, Julia Arfaa of Baltimore, said the large award was justified by the evidence the jury heard about Berger's painful experience with chemotherapy in the years after he was diagnosed.

Senators Urge Supreme Court to Allow Live Broadcast of Health Care Decisions

The top lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee have joined the chorus of organizations requesting that the Supreme Court allow live broadcast coverage of the upcoming announcement of its historic health care decisions.

Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts today, which states that the broadcast would bolster public confidence in the judicial system and in the court's decisions.

"Modem technology makes televising the proceedings simple and unobtrusive," the senators wrote. "A minimal number of cameras in the courtroom, which could be placed to be barely noticeable to all participants, would provide live coverage of what may be one of the most historic rulings of our time."