Trial
Gowadia's trial was scheduled for July 10, 2007 but received a continuance until February 12, 2008, because Gowadia's new counsel had to be investigated by the United States Department of Justice for a security background check to allow him to use classified information as evidence at the trial. It was later reported that the trial had been postponed until October 2008, and then again postponed until January 21, 2009. A trial date for May 5, 2009 was delayed in order to assess if Gowadia was fit to stand trial on mental health grounds.
In November 2009, defense counsel psychology experts tried to establish that Gowadia suffers from narcissistic personality disorder but U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang said in a ruling issued late Friday, November 20, that the testimony of the two defense witnesses — Richard Rogers, a forensic psychology professor at the University of North Texas, and Dr. Pablo Stewart, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, San Francisco — was not credible. The defendant's unwillingness to thoroughly consult with his lawyers does not equate with an inability to do so, Chang said. That challenging relationship between the defendant and his lawyers cannot and does not provide the basis to find the defendant incompetent, Chang added. Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway chose to accept Chang's recommendation.
A trial was held in 2010. Open statements began on April 12, 2010. The trial included 39 days of often technical testimony and lasted nearly four months. Closing arguments took place on July 29, 2010. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson represented the government in the case, and defense attorney David Klein represented Gowadia. The jury deliberated for five and a half days before returning a guilty verdict on August 10, 2010. Sorenson, the prosecutor, later won the J. Michael Bradford Award of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys for his work in the case.
Although sentencing was set for November 22, 2010, and though Gowadia could have faced a sentence of life in prison, on January 24, 2011 he was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Gowadia is currently incarcerated in the ADX Florence, with a release date of September 11, 2033.
Read more about this topic: Noshir Gowadia
Famous quotes containing the word trial:
“The trial by market everything must come to.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Every political system is an accumulation of habits, customs, prejudices, and principles that have survived a long process of trial and error and of ceaseless response to changing circumstances. If the system works well on the whole, it is a lucky accident—the luckiest, indeed, that can befall a society.”
—Edward C. Banfield (b. 1916)
“Going to trial with a lawyer who considers your whole life-style a Crime in Progress is not a happy prospect.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)