Richard B. Russell Federal Building, Atlanta.Jury Selected in Hardwick Embezzlement Trial Over Defunct Atlanta Firm
Opening statements will start on Thursday morning after a break on Wednesday in observance of Yom Kippur.
September 18, 2018 at 06:57 PM
3 minute read
Voir dire concluded on Tuesday in the criminal trial of Atlanta lawyer Nathan Hardwick IV, two-and-a-half years after federal prosecutors indicted him for allegedly embezzling almost $21 million from his now-bankrupt firm, Morris Hardwick Schneider.
MHS's former controller, Asha Maurya, was also indicted in February 2016 but pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year. Maurya is cooperating with the prosecution.
Judge Eleanor Ross of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia is hearing the case, which is expected to last up to a month.
Nathan Hardwick.Government prosecutors Doug Gilfillan, with J. Russell Phillips and Lynsey Barron, and Hardwick's defense team, led by Ed Garland of Garland, Samuel & Loeb, wrapped up jury selection without much apparent contention. Garland handled juror questions for the defense with his colleague Kristen Novay.
The panel of 15 jurors, including three alternates, is made up of three white men, three African-American men and nine African-American women. They were selected from a pool of about 55 prospective metro Atlanta jurors.
Issues that came up included whether prospective jurors thought lawyers should be held to a higher standard than other people when accused of crimes and whether the courts are too lenient in prosecuting and sentencing white-collar crime cases.
There were a few moments of unintentional levity Tuesday during voir dire, which continued from Monday. Novay asked one candidate, a Delta Air Lines machinist, “Can you be fair and impartial in this case?”
“I'd like to be,” he said.
“You'd like to be a juror?” Novay asked.
“No, I don't want to be a juror,” he replied, clarifying rather that he could be fair and impartial, which got some laughs from other prospective jurors and lawyers alike.
There is no court on Wednesday in observance of Yom Kippur. Opening statements, slated at one hour for each side, start at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building.
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