by Mary Mack, Corporate Technology Counsel, Fios

Ashby Jones over at the WSJ law blog reports ^[1] on the bellwether criminal trial in the financial meltdown. Along with other evidentiary motions, the judge, Frederic Block, was presented with motions regarding electronic discovery during the Bear Stearns hearing.

The judge also declined to rule on separate motions by the defense to preclude prosecutors from introducing evidence that a tablet PC used by Tannin and a trading notebook used by Cioffi have disappeared. During the Thursday hearings, prosecutors also said the government received a letter from Google in response to their inquiries indicating that Tannin’s gmail account was erased in March 2008 at a time when there was a standing order in a separate 2007 civil case by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission not to destroy documents. During the hearing, Susan Brune, a lawyer for Tannin, said the Google letter hadn’t been given to her by the government and it was the first time she was hearing about it.