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Actually 10 weeks>>>>
Bank trial defendants ask judge to toss convictions

By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© June 11, 2013

NORFOLK

The four defendants found guilty in the Bank of the Commonwealth fraud conspiracy trial have asked the judge to throw out the convictions or at least order a new trial.

Each argued in court filings that the evidence presented by the government was insufficient to prove there was any conspiracy.

After a 10-week trial, a jury found each of the four defendants guilty of bank fraud conspiracy and related charges, determining that they had committed illegal banking acts that led to $70 million in losses and the failure of the bank.

The lawyer for Edward J. Woodard Jr., the bank's former president and CEO, told the judge that in the 2.2 million pages of documents supplied by the government, the word "conspiracy" is never used.

Woodard's lawyer, Andrew Sacks, said the government failed to present any "smoking gun."

There was no "proof of an agreement" between one or more of the defendants to conspire to defraud the bank, an essential element needed for conviction on that count, he said in his motion. "The evidence weighs so heavily against verdicts of guilty under the law and facts of this case that it would be unjust to enter judgments of guilty."

The other defendants - Stephen Fields, a former bank vice president; T. Brandon Woodard, Woodard's son and a mortgage specialist; and bank customer and developer Dwight Etheridge - submitted similar arguments.

U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson has twice denied similar requests, but the filings in recent days contain more detailed arguments for acquittal.

Tossing of criminal guilty verdicts is rare. A 2004 study found 18 instances out of 78,835 federal criminal cases. That's about 0.02 percent.

If the defendants lose this round, they can further appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The elder Woodard is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 26. Fields' sentencing is set for Sept. 16, Brandon Woodard's for Sept. 30 and Etheridge's for Sept. 18. In the meantime, all remain free on bond.

Tim McGlone, 757-446-2343, [e-mail]

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/06/bank-trial-defendants-ask-judge-toss-convictions