Brooks trial continues Monday

There have been two interesting recent developments at the criminal trial of David Brooks, who is presently being tried in federal court in Central Islip, Long Island.  The chief government witness, Dawn Schlegel, a former top executive at DHB Industries, who was indicted with Brooks but pled guilty and is now cooperating with the government, recently completed about a month on the witness stand.

 

One recent development relates to an e-mail, allegedly sent by Ms. Schlegel, which, if real, would show that Ms. Schlegel lied during her testimony against the defendants.  According to Robert Kessler of Newsday, who has covered the trial from the start, Schlegel admitted that she had had a one-night stand with a male colleague while she was having marital difficulties.  However, the e-mail in question, if real, would indicate that she had more than just a one-night stand with this colleague.

 

Of course, the purpose of this e-mail is to allow the defense to show the jury that Schlegel lied under oath about the extent of her extra-marital infidelities. The defense could then argue to the jury that, if she is lying about this issue, then she very well could be lying about all of her testimony against both defendants.

 

The problem for the defense, according to Newsday.com, is that the government alleges that the e-mail is a fraud and that it never came from Schlegel’s computer.  Judge Joanna Seybert ordered the defense to turn over to her the “metadata” (the actual computer history of the e-mail) for review. The defense turned over two “mysterious pieces of paper,” according to Judge Seybert, that could not be verified as the actual history.

 

As a result, Judge Seybert has held Brooks in contempt of court, which means that, at some point in the future Brooks will have to appear before the judge to determine what, if any, his punishment will be for the alleged contempt.

 

In the second interesting development, the government is attempting to have Dr. Seth Fishman, a veterinarian in Florida known to practice at Standardbred training centers, testify against Brooks.  According to Newsday.com and filed court papers, Dr. Fishman told prosecutors that Mr. Brooks “asked me if I knew of any way to erase Dawn Schlegel’s memory.”

 

Dr. Fishman had previously been mentioned during the testimony of Elinor Kaye, a witness who was responsible for writing checks and making payments on behalf of David Brooks’s horse interests.  As prosecutor Christopher Ott went through a list of grooms, trainers, shippers, etc. who were paid by Brooks-related entities, Kaye was asked about the name “Seth Fishman.”  She replied, “He was a vet.  He had a lot of money.”

 

The battle now, according to Newsday.com, is whether Dr. Fishman will be allowed to testify as to what David Brooks said to him about erasing Dawn Schlegel’s memory.  The issue is whether Dr. Fishman, as a possible agent for attorneys, should be barred from testifying about conversations he had with defendant David Brooks.

 

The prosecution says that, as a vet, Dr. Fishman could not be covered by any such exception and must be allowed to testify. Obviously, if this testimony is allowed in (and it seems, at first blush, that it will be allowed in), it will be very damaging to the defendant Brooks.

 

The trial continues on Monday, April 26.--By Steve Kallas