The federal judge who is refusing to grant bail to indicted billionaire Allen Stanford said he is through explaining why.
R. Allen Stanford
United States District Judge David Hittner in June ruled that Stanford, who is accused of running a $7 billion dollar Ponzi scheme, is a flight risk and should remain behind bars until his trial.
In July, Hittner refused to reconsider the ruling, and an appeals panel upheld the decision. Last month, Stanford's attorneys asked Hittner again to reconsider, saying their client was on the verge of a "complete nervous breakdown" after six months in jail.
Within two days, Hittner denied their request without explanation.
The attorneys, Kent Schaffer and George McCall Secrest, said they planned to appeal the decision, but could not do so effectively without knowing the judge's reasoning.
But Friday, in a terse, two-page ruling, Hittner said the attorneys had raised "no new circumstances" in their motion, so he is under no obligation to explain his decision any further.
Stanford trial is more than a year away. It is scheduled to begin on January 24, 2011.
