– to be sentenced November 20Robert SimelsFamed New York Lawyer, 62-year-old, Robert Simels who represented self-confessed drug dealer Guyanese Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan was found guilty on 12 of the 13 counts against him as the jury handed in their verdict, yesterday after seven days of deliberations.His associate, Arianne Irving was found guilty on five of the 11 counts she was facing.The two will face sentencing by Judge John Gleeson on November 20.In the meanwhile, Simels will be confined to his Waccabuc, Westchester, New York home.He would not be allowed in a courtroom to represent any client.Judge Gleeson refused the US prosecuting attorneys’ request to revoke Simels’s bail but ruled that Simels remain under house arrest at his home in New York’s Westchester County while wearing an electronic ankle braceletHowever, his lawyer, Gerald Shargel expressed sadness for Simels and his family, and has given notice of appeal.Simels’s associate Arianne Irving remains out on bail until sentencing.They each face life sentences.In court yesterday, Simels sat back in his chair flushed and with what was described as an angry look as the verdict was read.The 31-year-old Irving put her head in her hands and went facedown on the table where she wept.In addressing the Court,Cheap Jerseys Authentic, the judge told Simels that had the Government confidential informant Guyanese, Selwyn Vaughn,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, turned out to be the man, he (Simels) thought he was, then people would have died.“He unleashed Mr. Vaughn” upon the witnesses and their families, Gleeson said. The judge called the case a “tragedy” and said he found the testimony about the matter-of-fact manner in which Simels discussed having witnesses lie, “especially disturbing.” The Judge indicated that he was morally outraged and stated that there is a thin line that separates the dark side.He said that Simels crossed the line between what lawyers must do on behalf of their clients and what is forbidden.The Judge pointed out, “People could have easily been murdered and Simels knew that.”The verdict came after the Jury had made 45 requests for materials to aid their deliberations as well as for clarifications on the law.As for the prosecuting team, they felt vindicated that Simels, a high profile attorney who cheated ethics prosecution on a number of occasions previously, was finally brought down.Simels, a former Special Assistant Attorney General for New York’s Special Prosecutor’s Office, was found guilty on nine counts of witness tampering,Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys, one count each of bribery, importation of illegal eavesdropping equipment into the US and being found in possession of the illegal eavesdropping equipment. He was cleared of a sole charge of making false statements to the U.S.Simels refused to speak to US journalists but when approached by two Guyana-based journalists,Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic, he politely said he would prefer not to comment.When pressed about the filing of the appeal, Simels said that he would deal with that development when the time comes.Yesterday,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, several lawyers, some of whom were in the courtroom as the verdict was read, stood in small groups as they discussed the decision.One group was overheard debating whether or not Simels’s action was legal or illegal. Another group said that the case was decidedly one where ethical issues was completely overshadowed and sometimes covered by the use of any means to get a client off of charges.Simels’s undoing came as he took on the case of self-confessed drug dealer Guyanese Shaheed ‘Roger Khan’, in 2006.He met a member of Khan’s Phantom Gang, Selwyn Vaughn, whom he asked to assist him in the quest to “neutralise or “eliminate” witnesses against Khan.Khan then was facing 18 counts, including being a part of a continuing drug enterprise which carries the penalty of life imprisonment.Unknowingly, when Vaughn met and or telephoned Simels, the conversations were recorded.Khan, who has since pleaded guilty, is awaiting sentencing. He was indicted in 2006 for importing more than five kilogrammes of cocaine into the US between January 2001 and March 2006. Court papers and Vaughn’s testimony during the Simels case described him as being the head of the feared Guyana-based “Phantom Squad,Wholesale China Jerseys,” a violent para-military group that imported large quantities of cocaine into New York and also committed murders.