Judge Mulls Acquittal in Broadcom Case
Amid allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, a federal judge in California is considering whether to acquit Broadcom’s former chief financial officer.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney to consider acquittal for William Ruehle comes on the heels of his decision to set aside a guilty plea and dismiss a charge against the case’s key witness, Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli, Reuters reports.
After the surprising developments re Samueli, Carney directed Ruehle’s lawyer to prepare acquittal motions focusing on criminal intent and government misconduct in time for a hearing Monday.
“Is there enough, sufficient evidence for criminal intent? That’s my concern,” Carney said, according to Reuters. “As far as the government misconduct, we have had this issue raised at least three or four different times.”
Reuters notes that an acquittal for Ruehle would be a blow to the government’s four-year crackdown on backdating.
Carney’s moves in regards to Samueli and Ruehle could hurt the government’s case against Broadcom co-founder and former CEO Henry Nicholas, who is facing a separate trial.
In a story about testimony in the Ruehle case coming to a close, the LA Times recapped some of the alleged misconduct that has irked Carney.
Last week, Carney reportedly told jurors that Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Stolper committed misconduct when he contacted the lawyer for a witness in the Ruehle case and said the witness could face perjury charges if he testified the same way he had during an SEC deposition. The judge considered the contact as an improper attempt to influence testimony.
Also, a prosecutor apparently admitted Wednesday that he had improperly told reporters for the LA Times and the Wall Street Journal in 2007 that his office was having difficulty getting Samueli to cooperate.
The judge has said he believed there was prosecutorial misconduct and that he would take action at a later date, according to Reuters and the Times.
