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May 25, 2006 3:06 pm US/Eastern
Judge Criticizes New Indictment In Gotti Trial
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
The third racketeering trial of John "Junior" Gotti was postponed today by a federal judge.
The judge suggested the government was trying to pull a fast one by slipping references to murders into a rewritten indictment.
U-S District Judge Shira Scheindlin says she is troubled by the new Gotti indictment. The document includes an allegation that Gotti promoted people within the Gambino crime family if they committed murders.
Scheindlin reset opening statements in the next trial from July 5 to August 28 so lawyers would have enough time to argue the issues.
Two cases against Gotti in the last year ended with hung juries after defense attorneys argued that the mob scion had quit the mob life in 1999.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
