The conclusion of the second phase of the Plantation cops mortgage fraud trial in the jury's own words...

As we all know by now, the second phase of the Plantation cops mortgage fraud trial ended in a mistrial with a hung jury 10-2 in favor of acquittal.  The second phase of this never ending case was the governments attempt to convict alleged ringleader Joseph Guaracino, his brother Dennis and the attorney who owned the title company that the alleged fraudulent transactions went through, Steven Stoll.  After nearly a week of deliberations, the jury let the judge know that they've voted several times and haven't been able to come to a unanimous decision, here's the actual note to the judge...

Presumably the jury is told to go back and deliberate some more and think the case over during the weekend after 5 full days of deliberation in an effort to come back with a unanimous decision, again they tell the judge they can't...

And finally after listing to the intricacies of mortgage and real estate transactions for nearly four months, the jury finally throws in the towel...

An with that, this ordeal came to an end, at least for now.  The government has 70 days to refile the case against the three remaining defendants, you have to wonder though, will they?  Think for a moment what this epic mortgage fraud prosecution has cost the government, nearly five years of investigations, possibly hundreds of interviews and countless hours of scouring over tens of thousands of documents unintelligible to all but the most experienced mortgage and real estate professionals.  And how about the costs of actually trying this case and the one that preceded it?  The government has been at it since the beginning of 2011, first with the first group of defendants and now the second group.  After nearly nine months of slogging this mess through court, what do they have to show for it?  Two convictions out of 6 defendants in the first trial and now a mistrial for the remaining 3 defendants?  Can you imagine trying to justify those results in the private sector considering the millions that have been spent to achieve the two convictions?  Also keep in mind that the two guys convicted were low level members of the alleged conspiracy according to the government.  The government couldn't convict the alleged "big fish" or "mastermind" of this case, Joe Guaracino, let alone the attorney, Steven Stoll, that the government claimed facilitated the transactions in question.  Does this make any sense to anyone?

Now, assume that the government is going to go ahead and retry this case for a moment.  Remember, the prosecution fought tooth and nail to keep any evidence of "lender negligence" out of these two trials.  Defendant Stoll's attorneys even filed a motion to dismiss based on the governments new lawsuits against the banks that were at the center of our nation's economic meltdown.  Although the judge didn't allow the jury to hear about any evidence regarding the banks part in this mess, considering the new actions by the justice department against the lenders, do you think there's a chance in hell that they judge could keep this from the new jury if the case is retried?  The whole concept of retrying a case that ended in with a hung jury seems inherently unfair to me.  Isn't the mere fact that the jury ended in a 10-2 vote, meaning only two people bought the prosecutions case, enough "reasonable doubt"? 

Tomorrow the two defendants that were convicted in the first trial, John Velez and Joseph Derosa, are going to be sentenced in federal court.  I have a hard time understanding how they were convicted yet the other codefendants who were charged with doing the exact same thing they did were not.  Regardless, in light of the outcome of the second phase of the case on Monday, we can only hope that the judge shows some level of leniency towards these guys who have had their lives and careers destroyed by this mess.