Diane Wells

I am describing the prosecution’s presentation to the Court at my criminal trial. The prosecution had about 10 witnesses at trial who were investors in a Fund that I administrated as part of a five-person committee. None of the witnesses were people I knew or had asked them to invest. Some of them I talked … read more

(I am writing excerpts from my criminal trial.) After the initial shock of being in the courtroom and seeing first hand what it’s like to be “on trial”, I had to own that given the circumstances, it’s where I chose to be. Now, I had to behave my way through it. I wasn’t quite sure … read more

Freedom is something I sat and thought about more than ever this year around July 4th. There were more than enough reasons to do so. I get a bit overwhelmed by how important and fragile freedom has become to me. There was a stretch of time when I was being prosecuted for a crime I … read more

After over a year, the inevitable took place. I was going to trial. You prepare for it for what seems like forever, but the day before it begins you can’t imagine that you are ready or that it is actually happening. The problem is that you will never be ready. It seemed like I was … read more

I have learned a lot since my plea deal. Most adults, probably every adult, breaks the law at some point in their lives. I had never given it a thought. Arguably, people knowingly or unknowingly break the law every day and no one cares or gets caught. Sure, it might be for minor things or … read more

Curious, I looked in the dictionary for the definition of a plea. If it’s unrelated to “law” it is, “a request made in an urgent and emotional manner”. If the definition of “plea” is related to law, a plea is defined as, “a formal statement by or on behalf of a defendant or prisoner, stating … read more

I am a common-sense kind of person so I am trying to understand what the plea deal was intended to be, if it is working or if something else could work better. My understanding is that a plea deal is necessary because the court system could never handle all the cases if trials were necessary. … read more

After you are charged, the plea deals come pretty quickly. It’s the way we do justice in the US. It is estimated that 98% of cases charged end in a plea deal, so it is expected that you will plead. You will plead. It is a dance between your criminal defense attorney and the prosecutors. … read more

We submitted our second Motion to Dismiss due to a Government witness lying to the Grand Jury. DENIED. The reason we were denied was that it was so difficult to separate the lies from the rest of the testimony and one person’s testimony from others. I was told that for the most part, Scott, the … read more

I was so terribly green at what the whole criminal justice system was, but not afraid to ask most questions that popped up in my head as they occurred. The Grand Jury sounded almost “royal” to me, untouchable and all-knowing. As I dug deeper and asked my questions, I got very concerned, not just for … read more

Years ago I was charged with a crime I didn’t commit. We found out the original business records were mysteriously “destroyed”. We filed a Motion to Dismiss. That Motion was denied and now we filed another Motion to Dismiss because my former fund committee member lied to the Grand Jury to get me charged. If … read more

Usually you will find me writing each week for the last few months about the criminal case that I endured many years ago. Today, I am writing because I reached out to an inmate a couple of weeks ago and he wrote me back. I shouldn’t be surprised that he wrote me back, I guess, … read more

We barely found out that the Motion to Dismiss due to the destruction of documents was denied when we learned that my former Fund III colleague and one of the Government’s cooperating witnesses that testified to the Grand Jury was charged with perjury. It was Scott and he immediately pled guilty. Scott was the only … read more

I was baffled why the Motion to Dismiss was denied. It was all so clear to me. The original business records were vital to the integrity of the case. I struggled. DENIED. DENIED. DENIED. The truth was denied. Assuming that we were going to trial, my defense attorney could have offered each Government witnesses’ own … read more

The reason that I was so upset at the disappearance of the original business records was varied. First, the importance of the records was that it showed the intent and mindset of the Fund III committee and its investors at the time of Fund III. Second, it was very important to find out when who … read more

I thought the Fund III records would be the central focus for my defense because the volume and thoroughness of the information that each investor had to commit to in order to be part of the Fund were substantial. The Receipt of the Offering Circular, Investor Questionnaire, Purchasers Representative Questionnaire, and Subscription Agreements had to … read more

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in the spring of 2005 and under normal circumstances, I would have been out with my three kids going to the park, setting up playdates, exploring and the like, but as hard as I tried nothing felt normal. I was a defendant in a criminal case that I had … read more

My criminal case had a ridiculous amount of information available to present at trial. A tidal wave of potential documents. I had organized about 22 banker’s boxes of information as the administrator of the Fund and that was just me. There were approximately 140 investors’ information, each of the committee members’ information and whatever the … read more

It was very early in the case. The plea deal I had been presented with when the charges were handed down was sitting squarely in front of me. I couldn’t make sense of it. Taking the plea deal meant I had to tell the truth, which I was doing. Taking the plea deal meant I … read more

One of the most puzzling issues that I had with the case was that I invested in the Fund that was the focus of the charges and I had my parents and a couple of close friends in this alleged scheme. That’s crazy. People don’t invest their own money and their closest family or friends’ … read more