Francisco Augusto Besosa | |
---|---|
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico | |
Assumed office January 1, 2022 | |
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico | |
In office September 27,2006 –January 1,2022 | |
Appointed by | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | Juan Pérez-Giménez |
Succeeded by | Camille Vélez-Rivé |
Personal details | |
Born | Francisco Augusto Besosa October 26,1949 [1] San Juan,Puerto Rico |
Education | Brown University (AB) Georgetown University (JD) |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | 1972–1976 |
Rank | Captain |
Unit | 313th Military Intelligence Battalion |
Francisco Augusto Besosa (born October 26,1949) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Besosa was born on October 26,1949,in San Juan,Puerto Rico,the oldest son of Frank A. Besosa and Augusta V. (Tuty) Stubbe. He attended primary schools in San Juan,and graduated in 1967 from the Taft School in Watertown,Connecticut. He then attended Brown University in Providence,Rhode Island,receiving an Artium Baccalaureus degree with a concentration in History in 1971. [1]
After college,because he had a very low draft number (7),he enlisted in the United States Army under the college option program to attend Officer Candidate School. In April,1972,he graduated from the 23-week course of the United States Army Infantry Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning,Georgia,and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Military Intelligence Branch. After completing the Counterintelligence Officer and Personnel Security Adjudications courses at the United States Army Intelligence Center and School in Fort Huachuca,Arizona,he was posted to Detachment R,500th Military Intelligence Group in Okinawa,Japan,where he served as Deputy Chief of the detachment's counterintelligence field office until 1974. Besosa was then reassigned as the Assistant S-2 (Intelligence and Security Officer) of the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion in Fort Bragg,North Carolina. When the 504th Military Intelligence Group was activated in Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah,Georgia,Besosa was assigned as the Group's S-2,with the additional duty of the Group's Race Relations/Equal Opportunity Officer. In 1976,he was honorably discharged as a Captain,and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. In March,2007,Besosa was elected to the Infantry Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame. Once discharged from the Army,Besosa attended Georgetown University Law Center,receiving his Juris Doctor in 1979. [1]
After approving the Puerto Rico bar examination,he worked as an attorney in some of the leading law firms in San Juan,eventually becoming a partner. He was also an Assistant United States Attorney from 1983 to 1986. While in private practice and as an Assistant United States Attorney,he litigated and tried all types of cases in the civil and commercial areas of the law. Besosa was lead counsel or actively participated in various of the large complex litigation cases filed in the courts of Puerto Rico,including the E.I. DuPont de Nemours Benlate Fungicide Litigation and the Río Piedras Humberto Vidal Building Explosion Litigation. In 1994,he was a founding partner of the Adsuar,Muñiz,Goyco &Besosa,P.S.C.,law firm and chaired its Litigation and Trial Practice Department and the Recruiting Committee. [1]
While Besosa was in private practice,this Court appointed him to the United States Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel in 1993,to the Court's Committee to Revise the Local Court Rules,and as an evaluator in the Court's Early Neutral Evaluation Program. Besosa was also appointed a member of the Puerto Rico Bar Examination Review Board by the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. [1]
For more than 30 years,Besosa was the Chairman of the Puerto Rico-U.S. Virgin Islands Area of the Brown Alumni Schools Committee,recruiting and interviewing highly qualified students for Brown University. Under Besosa's chairmanship,the Puerto Rico-U.S. Virgin Islands Area was awarded a distinguished service award by the university. In 1998,Brown University awarded Besosa its Alumni Service Award. [1]
From 1987 to 1993 Besosa was a member of the Board of Regents of the Colegio Puertorriqueño de Niñas,serving as the Board's vice president from 1991 to 1993. He also served as the Assistant Cubmaster and later Chairman of the Pack Committee of Cub Scout Pack 31 from 1991 to 1994. From 1998 to 1999 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico Tennis Association.
Besosa was a member of the Puerto Rico Bar Association until 2009,and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association,the American Bar Association,the Hispanic National Bar Association,and the Federal Bar Association,of which he served as a Director of the Puerto Rico Chapter. [1]
On May 16,2006,President George W. Bush nominated Besosa to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico to fill the vacancy created by Judge Juan Pérez-Giménez who assumed senior status on March 28,2006. He was confirmed by the Senate on September 25,2006,received his judicial commission on September 27,2006. [2] He took the oath of office on October 2,2006. [1] Besosa assumed senior status on January 1,2022. [2]
Besosa has handled several prominent cases during his judicial career. On May 17,2011,he sentenced former Senate of Puerto Rico Majority Leader Jorge De Castro Font to five years in prison and three years probation after convicting him for numerous public corruption cases. [3] Previously,he presided over the trial of former senator Héctor Martínez,whom he sentenced to a four-year federal prison term. [4]
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one federal courthouse in each district,and many districts have more than one. District court decisions are appealed to the U.S. court of appeals for the circuit in which they reside,except for certain specialized cases that are appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico is the highest court of Puerto Rico,having judicial authority to interpret and decide questions of Puerto Rican law. The Court is analogous to one of the state supreme courts of the states of the United States and is the highest state court and the court of last resort in Puerto Rico. Article V of the Constitution of Puerto Rico vests the judicial power in the Supreme Court,which by nature forms the judicial branch of the government of Puerto Rico. The Supreme Court holds its sessions in San Juan.
Juan Rafael Torruella del Valle Sr. was a Puerto Rican jurist. He served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1984 until his death,and as chief judge of that court from 1994 to 2001. He was the first Hispanic to serve on the First Circuit,which includes Puerto Rico.
James Robert Browning was an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
JoséAlberto Cabranes is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a former presiding judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review ("FISCR"). Formerly a practicing lawyer,government official,and law teacher,he was the first Puerto Rican appointed to a federal judgeship in the continental United States (1979).
JoséAntonio Fusté is a former United States District Judge and former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Julio Manuel Fuentes is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Fuentes is the first Hispanic judge to serve on the Third Circuit.
Raymond L. Acosta was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Salvador Enrique Casellas was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Juan B. Fernandez-Badillo was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Gustavo Antonio GelpíJr. is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He is a former chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Juan Manuel Pérez-Giménez was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Hernan Gregorio Pesquera was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
}}
William S. Greenberg is an American lawyer who serves as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Previously he was a New Jersey attorney in private practice.
Brigadier General David A. Carrión Baralt is a former Adjutant General of the Puerto Rico National Guard during the administration of Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal Acevedo Viláfrom 2004 to 2008.
Pedro Alberto Delgado Hernández is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Raúl Manuel Arias-Marxuach is the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
Gina Raquel Méndez-Miró is a Puerto Rican jurist serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. She previously served as appellate judge of the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals.
Camille Lizette Vélez-Rivé is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. She previously served as a United States magistrate judge of the same court.