Well, there’s something for you. Viktor Bout’s lawyer actually showed up for a hearing; this is after lawyer no.1 repeatedly failed to appear and pleaded sickness (“I…I have a heart condition. I have a heart condition. If you hit me, it’s murder…”) and lawyer no.2 found he was permanently busy.
I had wondered if he planned to stay in Thailand as long as the local bar association wasn’t exhausted of lawyers who hadn’t taken part in the case; but it seems he’s actually going to fight the extradition, so the court adjourned until a date is set to hear arguments against the prima facie evidence required.
The man himself looks rather more cheerful than around the time of his arrest.
Meanwhile, Rogue Planet reports on a string of arms smuggling cases in South Florida, including the AEY Inc case and another one involving an attempt to sell Russian helicopters to Zimbabwe. It might be worth noting that the Missing 727 and 3X-GDM cases both involved planes sold by one “Maury Joseph”, apparently based in Florida and a fan of big steaks.
Carl Hiaasen said that the hardest part of his job was staying ahead of the curve of weirdness and depravity.
Is that ‘permanently busy’ in the sense of being found in a shallow grave?
No – he mysteriously kept finding out he was already booked in another case, every time the court scheduled a hearing.