Opinion ID: 77358
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: February Conferences

Text: 25 On February 2, 2005, Wilk filed an ex parte motion for his ninth expert, which the magistrate judge granted on March 9, 2005. On February 4, Wilk filed another ex parte motion for additional funds for the mitigation specialist and investigative firm already working on the penalty phase. The magistrate judge granted the motion on March 9. 26 At a February 10, 2005, status conference, the government acknowledged the February 18 deadline to file the Death Notice and explained that the Attorney General was still reviewing the case. Wilk stated that he would file most of his motions by the February 14 motions deadline, but requested additional time for some motions in light of the February 18 Death Notice deadline. Wilk's counsel stated that as of now the case is not a capital case and advised the magistrate judge that a whole new range of motions and a whole new range of issues would arise should the government file a Death Notice. The government responded that it had intended to seek approval for the death penalty from the beginning of the case. The magistrate judge explained that Wilk should treat the case as a death penalty case and indicated that the April 18 trial date was firm and fast approaching. The magistrate judge also expressed reservations about extending the motions deadline, but allowed Wilk until February 16 to file his motions. 27 On February 16, 2005, Wilk's two counsels filed these thirty-nine motions: (1) thirteen motions to dismiss various counts of the superseding indictment on grounds such as failure to state a crime, unconstitutionality of the underlying criminal statute, duplicity and multiplicity, lack of jurisdiction, vagueness, governmental delay, and insufficient commerce clause nexus; (2) a motion for production of legal instructions provided to the grand jury; (3) a motion for a pretrial hearing to determine the existence of a conspiracy, the admissibility of alleged conspiratorial statements, and to exclude alleged co-conspirator hearsay; (4) a motion to bifurcate the forfeiture count; (5) a motion for early Jencks Act disclosure; (6) a Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(4)(B) motion for notice by the government of its intention to use evidence in its case-in-chief; (7) a motion for change of venue based on prejudicial pretrial publicity; (8) two motions for a bill of particulars, one each on the obstruction of justice and child pornography counts; (9) a motion to strike the statutory aggravating factors from the superseding indictment; (10) a motion to strike surplusage from the superseding indictment; (11) a motion to sever the counts; (12) a motion to suppress the phone calls between Wilk and Jones; (13) nine motions in limine regarding pretrial lineups, bankruptcy cases, 911 and fire rescue tapes, conversations between Wilk and Jones, past searches and seizures at Wilk's residence, Jones's guilty plea, Wilk's perp walk and mug shots, and other crimes evidence; (14) a motion to exclude the government's expert witnesses; (15) a motion to suppress fruits of the search warrant executed on August 19, 2004; (16) a motion to suppress Wilk's medical and psychiatric records; (17) a motion to suppress Wilk's post-arrest statements; and (18) a motion to compel discovery. 28 On February 18, 2005, the government filed a formal Death Notice based on the malice murder of Fatta and the use of a firearm resulting in Fatta's death. 8 The statutory aggravating factors listed in the Death Notice were identical to those listed in the superseding indictment filed on October 21, 2004. The Death Notice also listed the following non-statutory aggravating factors under 18 U.S.C. § 3593(a)(2): (1) Wilk killed Fatta in an attempt to obstruct justice; (2) Wilk may be convicted contemporaneously of charges in addition to the capital charges; (3) Wilk was a danger to others; and (4) Wilk caused injury and harm to Fatta's family by killing Fatta. 9 29 At a February 24, 2005, status conference, the magistrate judge scheduled hearings commencing on February 28 primarily for Wilk's suppression motions and noted that she would hear oral argument on all the motions if Wilk desired. The government expressed its intent to file a second superseding indictment to add an additional capital count relating to Fatta's murder. Wilk's defense counsel stated they had a slew of additional motions to file regarding the Death Notice. The magistrate judge responded that she had previously warned the defense to treat the case as a capital case and to file all motions accordingly, but nevertheless allowed additional motions to be filed by March 11. The magistrate judge heard motions arguments on February 28, March 2, and March 9.