WilmerHale secured an impressive jury verdict for its client, Timothy D. Naegele, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Mr. Naegele was a pro bono client represented by WilmerHale in conjunction with the Federal Public Defender’s Office. He was indicted in April 2005 on 11 counts of bankruptcy fraud and making false statements, and yesterday Judge Paul Friedman issued an order acquitting Mr. Naegele of the last counts, resulting in the termination of all charges.

The 11 counts charged were in relation to Mr. Naegele’s personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which was filed in March 2000. After WilmerHale was asked to assist in Mr. Naegele’s defense in November 2005, the defense team successfully moved to dismiss four counts on legal grounds. WilmerHale’s other pretrial work included an extensive and rare evidentiary hearing on the defendant’s claim of grand jury abuse. That led to the dismissal of another count on separate legal grounds. After a trial that included 11 days of testimony and argument, a jury returned a partial verdict of not guilty on four of the six counts and hung on the remaining two. On February 27, 2008, Judge Friedman entered judgments of acquittal on the remaining counts under Criminal Rule 29, finding the evidence presented at trial insufficient as a matter of law to support convictions.

The WilmerHale legal team was lead by partner John Rogovin and associates Michael Snyder and Rob Mays, with Assistant Federal Public Defender Jonathan Jeffress.