Funding Civil Legal Aid

Alberta Darling had a lot on her plate in the late winter of 2011. As co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee in the Wisconsin Legislature, the 66-year-old senator from River Hills, described on her website as having “a passion for protecting, educating, and improving the lives of children,” was one of the chief stewards of Governor Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill, the legislation that would spark one of the fiercest protests in the history of Wisconsin, and in fact, force Senator Darling to face a recall election.

But if threats of protests and recalls and the prospect of voter dissatisfaction would not cause her to veer off course, it was not surprising that the promise and presence of $2.6 million in civil legal aid — money designated to help poor people with legal problems — was no deterrent. That the funding did not come from tax revenue but instead from a court surcharge was meaningless. That Wisconsin had been the second last state in the country to fund civil legal aid was irrelevant. The money disappeared.

Well not quite disappeared. In a twist that still rankles those who worked so hard to get that money into the budget, Senator Darling’s committee did not cut the funding from the budget, it gave the money to district attorneys.

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Oldest Living Marquette Law School Graduate Passes Away, Excelled in Law and Sports

Frank Zummach, thought to be the oldest living graduate of the Marquette Law School, passed away on April 30, in his hometown of Sheboygan at age 101.

In addition to a long career as a member of the Wisconsin bar, Zummach also played and coached basketball at Marquette, and from 1939-1942, he served as head coach of the Sheboygan Redskins of the National Basketball League, a forerunner of the NBA.

Zummach, a Milwaukee native, attended Marquette High School, and enrolled as a college student at Marquette in 1929. He began playing basketball for Marquette in 1930, and he entered the law school in 1932, with one year of varsity eligibility remaining.

Zummach continued to play on the Hilltopper varsity team as a first year law student and then switched to the role of assistant coach once his eligibility as a player expired. When he received his law degree in 1935, Frank was a member of the second class of Marquette Law students to be admitted to the bar under the diploma privilege. Because of the quality of his work in law school, he received the J.D. degree, rather than the then more common, L.L.B.

Frank gave up coaching in the fall of 1942 and for the next six decades, he practiced law in Sheboygan. In the late 1990’s, he was “rediscovered” by basketball historians and was a frequently lauded figure in basketball circles during the final fifteen years of his life.

For more on Frank’s career, see my post “The Marquette Law School Graduate Who Coached in the NBA Finals.” An extended obituary from the Sheboygan Press can be found at here.

 

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Seventh Circuit Affirms Money-Laundering, Conspiracy Convictions of Car Dealers for Cash Sales to Drug Traffickers

Amir Hosseini and Hossein Obaei, who operated three Chicago-area automobile dealerships, sold many luxury cars to drug dealers over a ten-year period. Hosseini and Obaei were apparently popular with this market segment because of their willingness to take large cash payments in small bills. Eventually, federal prosecutors caught up with them, and, following a five-week trial, they were convicted by a jury on 97 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, mail fraud, illegal transaction structuring, bank fraud, and aiding and abetting a drug conspiracy. The Seventh Circuit has now affirmed these convictions and the 15- and 20-year sentences that went along with them.

Had it been properly preserved, the most substantial legal issue on appeal would have been the question left open by United States v. Santos, 553 U.S. 507 (2008): whether, in a traditional money-laundering prosecution, the government must prove that the allegedly laundered proceeds are net profits, as opposed to gross receipts, of the underlying crime. (See my blog post about Santos here). However, since the Santos issue was raised for the first time on appeal, the court used plain-error review and found that the defendants could not satisfy the standard given the “unsettled state of the law.” (2)

Hosseini and Obaei also raised an interesting voir dire issue.

Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Affirms Money-Laundering, Conspiracy Convictions of Car Dealers for Cash Sales to Drug Traffickers
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