Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
In separate pleadings filed last week, six of the defendants found guilty in the spring for their roles in a bribery and kickback scheme at the now-defunct Forest Park Medical Center are asking the U.S. District Court in Dallas for judgments of acquittal or, alternatively, new trials. Texas Lawbook correspondent Bruce Tomaso provides a summary of the arguments.
A prominent Dallas spinal surgeon convicted in the Forest Park Medical Center fraud case is seeking a new trial. The filing on Monday by David Gerger of Houston-based Gerger Khalil & Hennessy, claims a string of harmful errors by federal prosecutors and the trial judge requires that the conviction in April of Dr. Michael Rimlawi be vacated. Bruce Tomaso has the story.
Surgeon Nick Nicholson was one of 22 Forest Park Medical officials indicted in one of the largest and most complex healthcare bribery and kickback schemes in Texas history. But Dr. Nick was the only one a jury found not guilty. In an exclusive, in-depth interview, Nicholson and his lawyer, Tom Melsheimer, take readers inside the confidential sanctuary of the attorney-client relationship to discuss in vivid detail every aspect of the case and the decisions they made that led to the dramatic acquittal earlier this year. This is their story.
Melsheimer and his legal team worked more than 4,000 hours defending Forest Park Medical Center Surgeon Nick Nicholson against allegations of bribery and kickbacks. In a joint interview, the pair provide The Texas Lawbook insights into their relationship, how the use of mock juries helped them develop a successful legal strategy, the decision whether to quote from the King James Version or a modern Bible translation and their opinions of the prosecutors, judge and other defendants. Here they are in their own words.
Twenty-two medical professionals, including nine surgeons, were indicted by federal prosecutors in Texas in a bribery/kickback scheme that rocked the health care community. Nine went to trial. Only one person, Dr. Nick Nicholson, was found not guilty. On Monday, Texas Lawbook correspondent Bruce Tomaso gives readers an exclusive, in-depth look into the groundbreaking case and trial through the eyes of Dr. Nicholson and Tom Melsheimer, the lawyer who defended him. Click here for a video preview.
Jurors in the Forest Park Medical Center bribery trial headed home late Monday. They will resume Tuesday after 19 hours of deliberation. Like last week, the jurors had questions. But unlike last week, those questions were answered via telephone from Toledo. Bruce Tomaso explains.
Public service has its price. Three years ago, U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary learned how steep that price can be. A suspected terrorist in Ohio put out a contract on
For months, accused pedophile priest Rudy Kos had evaded reporter Brooks Egerton. But the night before his vacation trek to New Mexico comes a call: Rudy Kos wanted to talk. And talk he did.
Dallas lawyer Sylvian Demarest could have spent another lifetime representing the victims of pedophile priests. Instead, she decided to bequeath her years of research on the matter to help protect future generations of potential victims.
Twenty years ago this month, an extraordinary trial took place in a Dallas County court. It pitted 10 young men and the family of another against the Dallas Catholic Diocese. The issue was serial sexual abuse by Rudy Kos, a priest and pedophile whose transgressions had been ignored for years. The resulting verdict of $119 million was a record for its time; but the dramatic 14-week trial helped expose to international public scrutiny the clear and present danger of a pedophile population within the priesthood that had been protected for decades, both by the church bureaucracy and the public trust. This special Texas Lawbook report by Bruce Tomaso tells the story of the trial of Rudy Kos, a remarkable and historic tale of courtroom justice.
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