United States vs. Wesley Snipes
LINDA MORENO
Attorney at Law
Linda Moreno has a unique and diverse clientele; she has represented a Palestinian professor accused of terrorism and an African American actor of international renown indicted on tax fraud. An American oil company defending a wrongful death suit on international soil retained her to assist in jury selection. A foreign embassy sought her services in representing a native Egyptian son accused of terrorism related charges. Often, Ms. Moreno is hired by experienced attorneys seeking specific guidance in jury selection on high profile cases, an area of her expertise. She has practiced exclusively in criminal defense in both state and federal courts for nearly three decades. Although she is based in Florida, Ms. Moreno represents clients around the United States. She is a member of the state bars of California and Florida, and is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar. She is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Middle District of Florida, the Central District of California, and the Eastern District of Michigan, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit. She has appeared pro hac vice before the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Texas, the Southern District of New York, the Southern District of Florida and the New York Supreme Court. Ms. Moreno received her B.A. from the University of Southern California in 1974 and her J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles in 1979.
Ms. Moreno has successfully defended clients in a number of high profile cases. For example, she represented Dr. Sami al-Arian, a Palestinian professor, in what the government described as the seminal test of the Patriot Act in United States vs. Sami Amin al-Arian, et al. After a 6-month trial, which garnered international attention, the jury refused, in a 53-count indictment, to return a single guilty verdict against Dr. al-Arian and acquitted him of several of the most serious charges. Ms. Moreno also represented the chairman of the board of the pre-eminent Muslim charity in America in the federal prosecution of United States vs. Holy Land Foundation, et al, in Dallas, Texas. Once again, the jury refused to return a single guilty verdict against her client, and the case ended in a mistrial.
Ms. Moreno’s cases have involved all aspects of criminal practice in federal and state courts, including grand jury practice, bail hearings, motions, trial and sentence. Ms. Moreno has tried complex RICO cases, mail fraud, conspiracy, terrorism, capital murder cases, and handled matters involving civil liberties. In addition to her general practice, Ms. Moreno is frequently retained in complex, high profile cases to assist with jury selection. For example, Ms. Moreno served as a jury and trial consultant in the matter of the United States vs. Adham Hassoun, Jose Padilla, et al, in Miami, Florida, a highly-publicized terrorism case watched by human rights organizations around the world. Her services are sought in other types of high profile cases such as in the matter of the United States vs. Wesley Snipes, where Ms. Moreno was retained as a jury consultant, then asked to join the trial team, in a prosecution of the African American actor in a southern jurisdiction where race was an important issue in jury selection.
Ms. Moreno has lectured on civil liberties and terrorism prosecutions at various universities and institutions, including Columbia University Law School and Yale Law School. She has appeared on numerous panels, both in the United States and abroad, on subjects involving civil liberties in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. As a lecturer, she was invited to Oslo by the Norwegian Bar Association and the Nobel Peace Committee to address law students, parliamentary members, print and radio media on national security cases and their impact on the Constitution. Ms. Moreno has been featured often in the local media and has appeared on NPR, WMNF, WBAI, BBC World, Democracy Now, ABC, NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera, and in the pages of the New York Times, Chicago Herald Tribune, Miami Herald, St.Petersburg Times, Los Angeles Times, Tampa Tribune, the Washington Post , the National Law Journal, and the Daily Business Review.
United States vs. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development
PRESENTATIONS
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers: Jury Selection in Terrorism Prosecutions
Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers: Terrorism Prosecutions & Civil Liberties; Representing the Hated Client
Columbia University College of Law: United States vs. al Arian: Jury Selection in the High Profile Case
Yale University School of Law: National Security Cases and the matter of United States vs. al Arian
Nobel Peace Committee, Oslo, Norway: United States vs. al Arian & the American Constitution
Numerous Media Panel discussions in California, New York and Florida on Civil Rights in the context of high profile terrorism prosecutions
University of South Florida: Role of Civil Rights in Terrorism Prosecutions
University of South Florida: The Media and Terrorism Prosecutions
Stetson College of Law: Terrorism and the Law
University of Southern California: Women in Criminal Defense
Los Angeles County Public Defender: Jury Selection in Capital Cases
SECURITY CLEARANCE
Ms. Moreno has a Secret Security Clearance: Most Recent Security Background Investigation (June 2007)
Member of the Florida Bar and the California State Bar
Member of the United States Supreme Court Bar
