CNN
Legal Analyst
Attorney At Law
Coffey Burlington LLP
| Quotes From Kendall Coffey |
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| "The impact on future jurors has been documented by studies confirming that negative publicity contributes to negative results." Kendall Coffey on the Strauss-Kahn case. |
| "I would hope that as a community we are learning to ask more questions about meteoric financial rises, yet I'm uncertain if anything has really changed (after Rothstein)," said Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney who represented Rothstein's law firm after the Ponzi scheme was uncovered. |
| "This is not about dueling lawyers; this is about lawyers as problem solvers." Kendall Coffey on the pending presidential election. |
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"This is going to be a new territory, a new set of fascinating questions, and it will not be an easy thing for the Obama administration to give bankruptcy judges the power." Kendall Coffey on new foreclosure proposals. |
| "...what’s so important about this law is, it applies to torture wherever it takes place in the world if one is perpetrated by a U.S. citizen, which happened to be the case with this defendant, but also, if somebody else steps foot in the United States who has committed torture crimes in a foreign country, that person can also be prosecuted. " Kendall Coffey on the trial of Chucky Taylor. |
| "You know so many times the interest of the public sort of drops off after the sentencing. This time, Rick, I think a lot of the victims are going to want to know where he’s staying now that he’s going from the “penthouse”-- they want him to be going to the “big house." Kendall Coffey on Bernie Madoff. |
| "We have a love-hate relationship with the death-penalty. We see these despicable crimes: we want the maximum punishment applied to people who brutally kill children or to terrorists. At the same time we’re very concerned about mistakes being made, both mistakes with respect to selecting who is worthy of dying, if anyone, and mistakes with respect to the actual administration of execution. And these kind of cases, where horrible pains and horrible mistreatment occurs in the course of an execution, are very troubling to Americans and obviously of great concern to the United States Supreme Court." Kendall Coffey on the death penalty. |
| "I don't think any other place in the United States has had such a history of absentee ballot voter fraud,” said Kendall Coffey, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. “Miami has a legacy of lawlessness going back to the 1920’s.” |
| "If the defense had been able to go to trial without a body being discovered, hopes for reasonable doubt might have been compelling. If the body proves to be Caylee, then it immediately becomes an uphill case for the defense," Kendall Coffey on the murder of Caylee Anthony. |
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"On
the one hand, they obviously want to help legislators get a
crook out of office, on the other hand, their responsibility
is to try to get this guy behind bars, and that means
they're not likely to want to turn over their witnesses,
their evidence, to a political process." |
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"Well, it’s very troubling and I think a lot of people are going to be more inclined toward conspiracy theory than coincidence theory. You’ve got two high-profile democrats being examined. One of the most distressing and frightening things, frankly, is the idea that confidential federal files can be accessed for snooping on political candidates." Kendall Coffey on breach of security at State Department. |
| "The shocker here is that a lawyer was charged who is not acting as a criminal accomplice...It's more than chilling. It's paralyzing. If they'll prosecute Ben Kuehne, then anyone can be prosecuted." Kendall Coffey on charges against Ben Kuehne. |
| "...what this lawsuit is going to demonstrate is you can certainly globalize for profitability but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to minimize accountability. Kendall Coffey on the issue of lead paint in toys. |
| "...if you take words like abuse, if you take words like harass, if you take words like threats, and then you look at what was done to this little girl, I think the court is going to find that the First Amendment doesn’t protect that kind of conduct." Kendall Coffey on the suicide of Megan Meier. |
| "Let’s face it. The Nazi war criminals were tried by the Allies. They did it directly. The verdict of history has been very positive. Why? Because the shocking dimensions of their criminality for decades was vividly demonstrated and that’s what needs to happen here." Kendall Coffey on the trial of Saddam Hussein. |
| "It is mind boggling that Democrats championing the right to make every vote count in 2000 are now hearing that their own party is saying that their own votes aren't going to count. From thousands of voters and hanging chads, we've now gone to literally millions of voters who are being hung out to dry." Kendall Coffey on fate of delegates. |
| "It's too early to say that the final chapter has been written with respect to the criminal justice system in this case," Kendall Coffey on boot camp death |
| "If John Couey, given the horrible nature of this crime, doesn't get the death penalty because of brain scans, then you're gonna be seeing a lot of brain scans and a whole lot of mental impairment discussions in every capital case from now on," Kendall Coffey on murder of Jessica Lunsford |
| "This is considered to be the top priority of the Justice Department, and whatever the decision is based on, it's not going to be based upon cost-effectiveness considerations." Kendall Coffey on Liberty City 7 |
| "The crack-cocaine guidelines were put in place because crack was fueling crime waves across the country, in particular with respect to street violence,...And it is clear that crack cocaine and white powder cocaine had a very different impact in terms of not only the lives of the users but the impact on the community." Kendall Coffey on the reduction of crack sentences. |
| "...I wouldn't call this case a major defeat for the prosecution. They fought and won an important legal point in establishing that you can use a search warrant in Florida to secure medical records...That's an important precedent for prosecutors around the state." Kendall Coffey on Rush Limbaugh drug charges. |
| "What I think the president has done is picked a jurist who can redefine this Court for decades to come." Kendall Coffey on selection of Chief Justice Roberts. |
| "He goes before FBI investigators, doesn‘t recall this critical discussion. Then he gets in front of the grand jury, ... It‘s only after, bam, there is a document that‘s going to confirm that he spoke to Matt Cooper on that date that all of a sudden his memory gets a whole lot better and he goes back before the grand jury..." Kendall Coffey on possible indictment of Karl Rove. |
| "How do you take these extraordinary circumstances about an extraordinary person and turn it into an ordinary case about an ordinary defendant?" Kendall Coffey on Astronaut Lisa Nowak murder charges. |
| "So if there's anything that would increase moral litigation, subject us to avalanches and flood tides beyond imagination, it's opening the door to suing judges whenever we disagree with what they do." Kendall Coffey on the right to sue judges. |
| "To say that these realities should be ignored and that you should be blindfolded to what is happening judicially, legally and most importantly what is evolving so dramatically in both counts in other counties, I think, ignores the most basic duty there is, to look at the truth and make a fair decision.'' Kendall Coffey on the 2000 recount. |
| "if those prescription drugs got to her
in some way that’s illegal and it contributed to her death,
somebody is in a lot of trouble and, even if there was no
crime committed, whoever was the enabler in this could be
facing a big lawsuit for wrongful death at some point down
the road. |
|
"In
Florida, the law on abandoned property if you keep it,
that’s a theft. What you got to do is turn it into law
enforcement, it’s posted by notice and you wait 90 days. So
the next time you see a Rolex watch on the sidewalk don’t
put it on your wrist. Give it to the police and maybe 90
days later you’ll have a handsome timepiece. |
With public corruption now a top priority, and with prosecutors armed with more flexible legal tools, last year's wave of federal corruption cases reached more than 500 public officials around the country. That wave has arrived in South Florida, and so long as it remains a steadfast priority, there is no end in sight.
Kendall Coffey