The Galleon prosecution: hoist by its own petard?

Cite this Article
Larry Ribstein, The Galleon prosecution: hoist by its own petard?, Truth on the Market (May 04, 2011), https://truthonthemarket.com/2011/05/04/the-galleon-prosecution-hoist-by-its-own-petard/

Dave Zaring asks whether the Rajaratnam trial, now doomed by a sick juror to start deliberations all over again, is headed for a hung jury. 

Dave suspects the jury is more likely hung 11-1 to convict than vice versa.  But there’s another possibility:  there are a lot of charges in this cases which occupy a wide space in terms of likelihood of illegality.  The jury may be divided every which way on these charges.

As I discussed last week, the case is complex because the government wanted it this way. But this leaves a lay jury with the huge task of sorting out legal theories, mountains of factual evidence, skilled expert testimony and a sophisticated defense by a top trial lawyer.  Now we see why the government prefers to frighten defendants into caving in.  This tactic didn’t succeed with a billionaire defendant who had little to lose from a trial. 

Before this is over, the government may come to regret its approach to insider trading prosecutions.