But now that black Italian roadster could be the former Sarasota resident’s vehicle for a new trial — and what his attorney hopes would be freedom — though the odds of that outcome remain remote.
Diamond’s defense lawyer Robert Barnes has made the car the centerpiece of an appeal that argues a federal judge made a “still-shocking violation of eight decades of Supreme Court precedent and ethical respect for the law” when he answered a question from the jury about the charges attached to the 520-horsepower car by referring solely to a prosecution exhibit and without Barnes present.
Though the Lamborghini only came up in one of the 18 felony counts on which Diamond was convicted, if the judge is deemed to have erred in answering the jury question about the car, it could win Diamond the right to have his case argued in person before the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
That court only reverses a small percentage of criminal cases each year, but white-collar charges have a greater chance than most, experts say.
Diamond is now being held in a Miami federal prison with a targeted release date of March 2023.
On Feb. 6,