NEW YORK, November 28 - RAPSI. The Attorney Office of New York sees no sound reasons to doubt the jury's verdict and set a judicial investigation in the case of Russian businessman Viktor Bout, who was found guilty on all counts, Bout's defense counsel Andrei Garkusha told RIA Novosti following the Attorney Office's response to the appeal.
Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and further extradited to the United States. He was consequently convicted by the jury trial of conspiring to kill Americans and supporting terrorism.
Bout's defense has challenged the verdict on the ground that at least one juror was provided with only a lopsided information about the defendant based on the Lord of War film she saw before the trial. She mentioned it in her New York Times interview.
Bout's counsel Albert Dayan requested the judge to set special hearings for the jury which convicted Bout in order to find out the case details in the courtroom. This procedure is necessary for the court to be able to revoke the verdict.
"The Attorney Office said a single publication is not enough to start judicial investigation and referred to previous cases saying that judicial investigation in the presence of the jury were set when at least three out of 12 jurors| were suspected of being prejudiced against the defendant," Garkusha said.
The court is expected to pass a sentence to Bout on February 8. He faces from 25 years to life in prison.
Bout denied all charges.