by I think Judge Joel Cohen is getting a little bit aggravated by NRA’s attorneys attempts to delay the trial before it starts.
The attorneys for the NRA, primarily Noah Peters, are trying to argue that the term “properly administered” is unconstitutionally vague. The term is used in New York’s Estates, Powers
and Trusts Law (“EPTL”) § 8-1.4(m) which provides the basis for the First Cause of Action against the NRA in the NY Attorney General’s amended complaint. In my layman’s opinion, properly administered means you don’t buy suits for Wayne, pay for hair and makeup for Susan, or take free trips from major vendors.
Reading the letters to the judge from both the NYAG and Peters, it appears that this motion to dismiss the First Cause of Action is the fourth such attempt. New York wants to respond to this motion 30 days after the jury delivers a verdict while Peters and the NRA want it ASAP. Both of these letters were sent yesterday.
You may remember that on the Friday before Christmas Judge Cohen had given the NRA a lump of coal when he told them to stop screwing around. He told them then that they could have made this motion months earlier and that he didn’t anticipate delaying trial preparation to give it any attention. Nonetheless, attorneys for the NRA as shown above have continued on their quest to delay.
Today, Judge Cohen issued another notice with regard to the aforementioned letters that the briefing and hearing schedule on the NRA’s motion is stayed until further notice.
From the Court Notice:
The Court has reviewed the NRA and OAG letters regarding the briefing schedule for the NRA’s recently filed motion to dismiss (NYSCEF 2569, 2570). The NRA’s concerns about the timing for briefing this belated and procedurally questionable motion ring hollow, as it is a circumstance entirely of its own making. The Court remains far more concerned about the motion interfering with the trial rather than the other way around. Until further order of the Court, the briefing and hearing schedule on this motion is stayed. The Court will discuss the schedule with the parties during a break in jury selection the week of January 2, 2024.
As I said, I’m just a mere layman when it comes to the law. However, when a judge calls your motion “procedurally questionable” and that your concerns “ring hollow”, he is telling you to knock it off. To continually ignore his plainly given signals as the NRA’s attorneys have done is both arrogant and stupid. This case is finally coming to trial almost 3 1/2 years after it began and Judge Cohen is not going to let anything that could have been done months ago delay it further. Bill Brewer and his group of lawyers need to recognize that and move on.
Brewer leaving something and moving on – not while the till is open and he can bill for it….
I Am a lawyer (I don’t just play one on TV or Radio), and I agree with you.
There are limits to zealous advocacy. Unless Brewer believes that the judge may change his mind depending on what he ate that morning (HT Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.), he’s very likely not going to change his mind, and you are dissing the judge as badly as when you say, “Your Honor, with all due respect. . .”
I have read of pro se defendants doing a better job.
That’s brutal and I love it!
The discussion years ago regarding capital punishment appeals was somewhat similar. You’d file one motion, wait til it got adjudicated, then file your next motion. Sentences then got dragged out for years because there was always one more motion that needed to be dealt with.