Denny Walsh has a front-page piece in today's Sacramento Bee about John Keker being added to the Salyer defense team and Judge Karlton's denial of the government's motion to recuse him. The whole article is an interesting read but here's my favorite part:
Anna Pletcher, an attorney in the San Francisco office of the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division, argued the motion to disqualify Keker.
"The government would be honored to face the Keker firm in a trial in the Salyer case," but Grewal's situation presents an insurmountable conflict, she told U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton.
"Are you kidding me?" Keker asked the judge rhetorically. "This is such a transparent tactical move."
Karlton rejected Pletcher's argument last week, saying, "I believe that the government has got nothing but altruism motivating its motion, and its deep concern with fairness for Mr. Salyer. I believe that, but I also believe in the tooth fairy.
"It seems to me the government is looking to avoid granting Mr. Salyer the best possible defense that he can have. That he can afford Mr. Keker is impressive all by itself … " the judge said, adding that Salyer is ending up with "either the best or close to the best white collar defense team in the world."
Keker now joins Malcolm Segal, considered one of Sacramento's top defense lawyers, who has represented Salyer from the start but says his firm is too small to wage war on an equal footing with the government in such a massive, multifaceted prosecution.