From the very beginning Cesar C. told me he was innocent and that we were going to trial. The D.A. put on a parade of drug-addict witnesses who tried to convince the jury that my client, a man with no prior record and a good family, was the triggerman. The arresting officer told Cesar he "was going to put him away for life." Cesar testifed on his own behalf and the jury freed him after one day of deliberation Cesar is living with his family in San Diego. He still doesn’t understand why the police didn’t believe him over their methamphetamine and PCP using snitches. Cesar’s mistake was in thinking that the police would seek the truth instead of wanting to close their old unsolved homicide case. Read the verdict and see the news article below.
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Kudos
By Pat Ford
December 2004
A Joint Publication of the San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association and the Criminal Defense Lawyers Club www.sdcdba.org
A standing ovation to Russell S. Babcock for his relentless efforts to secure an acquittal for his client (Alexandre Chagovic) in the largest seizure of cocaine in United States maritime history. Russell was appointed by the federal court to represent Mr. Chagovic pursuant to the federal CJA Act.
On April 28, 2001, the United States Coast Guard interdicted a large fishing vessel, the Svesda Maru, five hundred miles off the coast of Acapulco after receiving a tip from an informant that it was laden with drugs. After a five-day search of the ship, the U.S. government found over ten tons of cocaine, the largest seizure in U.S. history, with a street value of over 1.6 billion dollars.
The multi-defendant trial was held in San Diego. The first trial resulted in a hung jury, but on July 14, 2004, a second jury acquitted Mr. Chagovic and four other defendants of all charges.
Russell is deserving of recognition for several reasons. First, of all of the attorneys in the group representing co-defendants, only Russell traveled to Russia, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador to obtain evidence to exonerate his client.
Before the first trial, Russell and his investigator went to Russia and collected positive character evidence about his client that was admitted at trial. Just days before the second trial, he went with his investigator to South America to obtain the evidence that most probably resulted in the acquittal. The government’s theory was that the drugs were loaded at sea because it would be impossible to load at port due to tight security; thus, all the deck hands would have knowledge of the presence of contraband. Russell took the personal risk to enter dangerous areas of the wharf in Guayaquil and La Libertad, Ecuador, to photograph and observe the very lax security procedures and the loading of cargo at the docks. Russell singularly devised the defense strategy in this case that resulted in the "not guilty" verdicts for each of the defendants in the second trial.
This trial was considered a slam-dunk winner for the prosecution because of the enormous quantity of drugs and the poor condition of the vessel, which under the government’s theory made it impossible to be engaged in commercial fishing. Although Russell was the only defense counsel to travel outside the country to investigate the case, all of the five defense attorneys ably represented their clients and deserve credit as well. The other four attorneys are Robert Carreido, Charles Guthrie, Julie Blair, and David Bartick.
Exemplary work in our profession deserves recognition and Russell devoted more than three years of his life to this case at great personal sacrifice to himself. Submitted by Nancy J. King, with additional "Kudos" information submitted by Gregory L. Rickard.
Attorney Russell S. Babcock represented Mr. Kasim and obtained a reversal of his life sentence after a jury convicted defendant of conspiracy to commit aggravated mayhem ( Pen. Code, §§ 182 , subd. (1), 205) and aggravated mayhem ( Pen. Code, § 205) .
The Court of Appeal granted defendant’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, vacated the judgment, and remanded for a new trial. The court held that reversal of defendant’s convictions and retrial were required due to prosecutorial misconduct, which denied defendant a fair trial. First, the prosecution withheld critical discoverable evidence favorable to the defense, and the suppressed exculpatory evidence was material, given that, had it been properly disclosed to the defense, there was a reasonable probability that defendant could have obtained a different result. Second, the prosecution presented false testimony to the jury that the two key prosecution witnesses had not received any benefits or promises in exchange for their testimony. The prosecutor had decided to assist one of the witnesses by the time he testified and, therefore, had actual knowledge of this benefit and had a duty to correct any false testimony by his witness. Not only did he fail to do this, but he conveyed the impression that these witnesses were testifying out of a sense of civic responsibility. Finally, a court-appointed referee found that by the time of closing argument, the prosecutor had decided not to prosecute these accomplice-witnesses as originally contemplated by the district attorney’s office. Thus, it was misconduct on the prosecutor’s part to *1361 tell the jury that they would be prosecuted after the trial. Since the testimony of the witnesses was crucial to the prosecution’s case, the prosecutor’s misrepresentation to the jury was material. The prosecutor assigned to the case and gang unit was terminated from the District Attorney’s Office shortly after this decision.
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My father was represented by a court appointed attorney. He failed to tell my father that he would be deported under the plea agreement that he signed. I hired Mr. Babcock to help my father avoid deportation. He contacted the United States Attorney’s Office and negotiated a new plea for my father which may make him eligible to stay in the United States. His legal fees were very reasonable. Thanks to Mr. Babcock, my father has a fighting chance now to stay with his family in the United States.
I was caught for smuggling drugs and failed to go to my court date in federal court because I had started a new life and had a baby. When I was arrested, I was facing a sentence of ten years in federal court and also extradition to another state on other drug charges. Mr. Babcock was able to obtain a sentence in federal court of only ten months for me, far less than anyone expected. The big surprise is he was also able to obtain a dismissal of my charges in the other state. Soon, I will be able to join my husband and be together again as a family, thanks to the hard work of attorney Russell Babcock.
I want to express my deep feeling of gratitude to you for your unswerving and steadfast faith and my case, and the staggering amount of work you did in preparing for trial . . . I will always remember with fondness our harried and frantic work together in preparing for trial…. and at times your strokes of genius. I believe [the government] was truly shocked when they realized……that not only did I have a for-real fighting attorney, but one who really knew what he was doing. You were truly magnificent in the courtroom. You exuded charisma that made the Assistant United States Attorney pale in comparison. I am very proud to have worked with one of the best (maybe the best). [You are] one of the vanishing breed of honest and ethical attorneys will give his all for a client – a defense attorney who hasn’t prostituted himself to the government. I will never forget you.
You will figure greatly in our thanks at Thanksgiving this year. Thanks to you, Jordan got the opportunity to turn his life around. Because of diversion, he got to finish his Nursing assistant program and has now been working for six weeks. He looks great, more relaxed, more self-confident and incredibly clean [drug free]
I received a sentence of over thirty five years for living with my girlfriend in Mexico. The District Attorney convicted me of kidnapping and other related charges. I probably would have spent the rest of my life in jail if it had not been for Mr. Babcock. Mr. Babcock won my case on appeal and then handled my case at the trial level. He was able to negotiate a result where I only spent about one additional year in jail. I am free today and living with my family.