A juror’s cover-up of her identity as a suspended lawyer led a federal judge yesterday to order new trials for three defendants in the Jenkens & Gilchrist tax shelter case. But the judge denied a new trial for a fourth defendant, finding his lawyers had reason to know the juror’s real identity and kept that knowledge to themselves.
Southern District Judge William Pauley (See Profile) said juror Catherine M. Conrad “made a calculated, criminal decision to get on the jury” that convicted Jenkens & Gilchrist tax specialist Paul Daugerdas and Donna Guerin; Denis Field, a former BDO Seidman CEO; and David Parse, a former Deutsche Bank Alex.Brown banker. Conrad, the judge said, told “breathtaking” lies about her education, her involvement in civil litigation, the criminal history of herself and her husband and her situation as a suspended lawyer with a drinking problem.
