Stanford Blames Twitter- Seeks New Trial

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Thursday, 22 March 2012 02:30

By caribarena news

Antigua St John's - Convicted schemer R Allen Stanford wants a new trial, and has blamed inadequate preparation opportunity, and media Tweets from the courtroom for his guilty verdict.

His attorney, Ali Fazel, earlier this week filed a 71-page document with the US District Court in Houston purporting that Stanford's Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial was tarnished.

Fazel said he and colleague Robert Scardino were unable to adequately prepare for the trial's overwhelming amount of paperwork since they were retained in October 2010.

He also factored in the effects of the public "media circus" created long before the trial began.

As far as Twitter, Fazel cited US District Judge David Hittner's failure to instruct jurors not to post Tweets online from the courtroom, including during periods when the jury was absent.

According to Fazel,  "This broadcasting is likely to have reached a juror, since Twitter does not require active pursuit of information, but rather, if a friend of the juror's was following the 'Stanford trial,' the tweets might automatically show up on a juror's Twitter account."

Stanford is scheduled for sentencing on June 14.

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