Re:Alfred Anaya Put Secret Compartments in Cars. The DEA Put...
by blatherard on Sunday October 12, 2014 @12:43AM
(#8444428)
I posted this elsewhere in the comments already, but it seems relevant to the "obviousness" claim.
From the decision of Anaya's 2013 appeal [http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1642115.html], here's a synopsis of the evidence that swayed the jury to believe he knew what he was doing. Its not just the 800K.
3. Sufficient Evidence of Knowledge
At trial, the Government presented evidence that Mr. Anaya
• built multiple hidden compartments in vehicles for the DTO that were insulated to mask the smell of drugs;
• witnessed $800,000 in one of his compartments in a DTO vehicle;
• used “kilos” as a unit of measurement for building compartments;
• communicated by phone with the DTO through a secret code to discuss compartment sizes; and
• warned Mr. Crow not to discuss the compartments or how they worked with anyone to avoid police detection.
Obvious to whom? Neither having nor seeing $800,000 in cash is a crime. While he may have had reason to be suspicious, that is not what the law requires. There must be actual knowledge of illegal use. Professional gamblers carry this kind of cash and more all the time. They could have been on their way to a poker game for all he knew.
>Most damningly, he tried to isolate himself from information (if you don't suspect a client of being a criminal, you don't instruct them to avoid talking of their usage)
You just indicted every criminal defense lawyer, and most accountants, in America. As officers of the court, lawyers are not supposed to knowingly make representations in court that they know not to be true. For precisely this reason, unlike in the movies, most lawyers will not sit down and ask a client to just tell them everything that happened; actual knowledge of certain facts could seriously damage their ability to defend their client. Instead they analyze the discovery given to them by the prosecution and ask the client questions as needed. Isolating yourself from information is certainly not a crime, and is necessary for many people in order to properly do their jobs.