Font Size: 
Supervision Eased for Arent Fox Partner Charged With Obstruction in Murder Case
Legal Times
December 22, 2008
Score one for the defense. The government will no longer electronically track the travels of Arent Fox's Joseph Price, his domestic partner Victor Zaborsky, and their roommate Dylan Ward. And that 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew? Gone, too.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Frederick Weisberg on Friday loosened the government's grip on Price, Zaborsky and Ward, who are charged with obstructing the D.C. police investigation of the death of Robert Wone in 2006.
Police say Wone, general counsel for Radio Free Asia, was restrained, sexually assaulted, and fatally stabbed in the Swann Street Northwest, Washington, D.C., home of Price and Zaborsky.
Federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner says the government is concerned the men will skip town to avoid prosecution. Kirschner, citing "multiple sources," says Price has distributed cocaine and crystal methamphetamine -- a charge Price's lawyer, Cozen O'Connor partner Bernie Grimm, denies.
Grimm, along with Zaborsky's lawyer, Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis partner Thomas Connolly, and Ward's counsel, David Schertler, successfully argued their clients do not pose a danger to the community. A superseding indictment is expected in January for charges that include conspiracy and evidence tampering.
Price, an Arent Fox partner in the IP litigation group, is on paid leave. The three defendants must submit to weekly drug testing and are required to call the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency to report trips out of the city.
Weisberg did not freeze assets -- a possibility that generated concern among the defense lawyers. "I don't mean to be a mercenary here, but there are attorney fees and expert fees to be paid to fight this case," Connolly says.
This article first appeared on The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
