Pattis [dead guy's lawyer] said the defense team will continue to seek a trial to clear his name.That is just silly AF. The state isn't going to waste its money trying a dead guy. The maximum imprisonment in Connecticut for murder is life and, here, the defendant croaked himself. I fully expect that the prosecutor will file two papers: A "suggestion of death" and then a dismissal, neither of which require the other side to consent.
“We intend to proceed on as if he were alive to vindicate him,” Pattis said.
Respect for my former profession precludes me from speculating what the real motive would be for seeking to keep a criminal case going against a defendant who has corpsified himself.
Where this will get fought out is in civil court, particularly if his kids don't inherit what's left of his estate.
Dollars to doughnuts says that the criminal case ended when the defendant shuffled himself off of this mortal coil.
All of the money Kenneth Lay stole was rendered inaccessible when he died before exhausting his appeals.
ReplyDeleteThis guy wasn't even convicted yet.