In 1995, Werlein declared a mistrial in the only trial resulting from a nineteenth-month
FBIbribery investigation of
NASA (all other defendants having pleaded guilty to charges).[4] The case was dismissed after the jury deadlocked at 9 to 3 in favor of a conviction, unable to agree on the meaning of "
entrapment".[4]
In 1996, Werlein presided over the trial of
Juan García Abrego, a
drug lord who was "once reportedly responsible for a third of the cocaine entering the United States".[5] Abrego was convicted on multiple counts,[5] and later sentenced by Werlein to 11 consecutive terms of life in prison.[6]
In 1997, Werlein reduced what was at the time "the largest
libel verdict in history", a $222.7 million award against
Dow Jones & Company, to $22.7 million.[7]
From 2004 to 2008, Werlein presided over the criminal prosecution of three British bankers implicated in the
Enron scandal, culminating in their guilty pleas in 2007.[8] On February 22, 2008, Werlein sentenced each defendant to 37 months in prison and told them they would have to redeem themselves and "pay[] back Royal Bank of Scotland every dollar or, over there, every pound."[9]
On October 20, 2010, Werlein blocked a request for the release of a videotape of an alleged beating of
Chad Holley by five members of the
Houston Police Department.[10]