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Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney Obtained a Mistrial for Teacher Accused of Defrauding LAUSD

By Walin & Klarich

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, a mistrial was declared in the California fraud trial of Matthias Vheru, 53, who was accused by prosecutors of conning the district into placing a $3.7 million order to buy math textbooks that he had written. The math teacher who was the interim director of mathematics in 2004, allegedly persuaded the district to purchase about 45,000 copies of an algebra book he wrote. As a result of the district?s purchase, Verhu received approximately $930,000. Following more than a week of deliberations, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, which is required to find Mr. Vheru guilty of the fraud charges. The panel was reportedly hung at 11 to 1 in favor of acquitting Vheru. The U.S. Attorney?s office has until March 23rd to decide if they want to retry Vheru...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).