GREENVILLE — Staff shakeups in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina mean former state Rep. Stephen LaRoque’s hearing on a new trial has been postponed until Oct. 10.
“Basically, (Assistant District Attorney) Dennis (Duffy) is the head of (the) criminal (division) now in the Eastern District, so he’s swamped, but there’s no other thing going on,” said Elliot Abrams, one of LaRoque’s attorneys for his federal fraud trial.
On Aug. 1, U.S. Senior District Judge Malcolm Howard set aside the guilty verdicts rendered on counts 10 and 11 against LaRoque pertaining to tax fraud, but left the other 10 convictions intact. Howard ruled the misconduct of Juror No. 3, Jones County resident Jerry Miller — who conducted background research online before the final day of deliberations — resulted in a violation of LaRoque’s Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury.
Subsequent depositions submitted in a filing by LaRoque attorney Joe Cheshire suggest the juror’s research, his opinion about it and how he communicated it to the other jurors, tainted the entire judgment and those convictions should be tossed as well, ahead of a possible new trial.
Howard initially set the hearing date for Sept. 12 then moved it to Sept. 26 on Duffy’s request.
The hearing will be at 10 a.m. at the U.S. Courthouse in Greenville.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-558-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.LaRoque hearing moved to October