Jailed Houston financier R. Allen Stanford got the new criminal-defense lawyers he asked for, but not before he tested the patience of Senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner during a hearing in Houston on April 6.
Hittner, a judge in the Southern District of Texas, granted a motion to allow Houston lawyers Kent Schaffer and George McCall “Mac” Secrest Jr. to withdraw as Stanford’s counsel, and granted Stanford’s motion to substitute Houston lawyers Michael Essmyer and Bob Bennett. But after Stanford failed to answer Hittner’s questions about his new attorneys with yes-and-no answers, Hittner told the former chairman of Stanford Financial Group (SFG) to “have a seat!”
