About half to pay for legal fees and another half in additional Ortiz minions time.
Judge decides MA motel won't be confiscated by Ortiz. Not a good day for the Federal Attorney General office here in Boston. Here's the headline on the wbur (Boston University) website:
"Judge Dismisses Government Seizure Attempt Of Tewksbury Motel"
By David Boeri January 24, 2013 Updated Jan 25, 7:02 am
In what is being called a triumph for property rights, a federal judge in Boston has rejected the federal government’s attempt to seize a family-owned motel in Tewksbury under a controversial civil forfeiture law.WBUR link: http: http://www.wbur.org/...The owners of Motel Caswell have never been charged with any crimes and have never come under police suspicion. But in a trial last November, the U.S. attorney’s office sought to take the property because it alleged the motel — the building — had “facilitated” drug crimes.
“I’m in shock right now,” said 69-year-old Russell Caswell. “Been three and a half years of this garbage. Takes a while to comprehend it’s finally over with.”
And highly respected retired federal Judge Nancy Gertner had this to say a week ago:
"Retired Federal Judge Joins Criticism Over Handling Of Swartz Case"
By David Boeri January 16, 2013
...For 17 years, Nancy Gertner sat as a federal judge here in Boston. She says she was troubled by much of what she learned and saw from the bench before leaving in 2011. And she says Ortiz should not have prosecuted Swartz.“Just because you can charge someone with a crime, just because a technical crime has been committed, doesn’t mean you should,” Gertner said.
