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SDNY Brooklyn State Judge Ash Has Motion
to Suppress Denied Amid Archibald Conflict
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Alamy
photos
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 2 – A now suspended
Brooklyn Supreme Court judge
Sylvia Ash was first brought
by US Marshals on October 11
to be presented in SDNY
Magistrates Court on charges
of obstructing the
investigation of fraud at the
Municipal Credit Union, where
she was a board member.
Then on
November 4 she appeared with
her Court Street lawyer Roger
Archibald before SDNY Judge
Lewis A. Kaplan. Things did
not go well, see below.
Now on June
2, Judge Kaplan has denied
Ash's motion to suppress in
its entirety (the 19 page
Order is online), and noted
this: "Archibald had an actual
or potential conflict because
he appeared to have been
involved in the conduct
charged to Ash. The
involvement was as follows: On
July 6, 2018 Ash, through
Archibald, made an allegedly
incomplete production in
response to the June 18, 2018
subpoena, which had required
that she produce, among other
items, all correspondence with
Wong and all documents
regarding any items of value
received from Wong or the MCU
."
Back on
November 4 Assistant US
Attorney Richenthal argued
that since Archibald signed
one of the letter cited in the
indictment, he might be a
witness, and conflicted out as
Ash's lawyer. He requested a
so-called Curcio hearing.
Archibald
responded that of course Ash
could waive the conflict if it
caused her hardship. But
Richenthal retorted, and Judge
Kaplan agreed, that what
Archibald said is not the law,
at least not in the SDNY.
Next
Archibald got played on the
exclusion of time. First he
requested a delay in trial
from May 2020 to September -
then he opposed any exclusion
of time under the Speedy Trial
Act.
Judge
Kaplan pounced, saying Fine
then, we'll start the trial in
January. He said archly that
he'd never seen Archibald in
his 25 years on the bench. The
AUSAs including Eli Mark
played into it, making of the
SDNY a sort of elite club, far
removed from the world of
Court Street, Brooklyn
corruption. But is it? We'll
continue to follow these cases
- watch this site.
Back on
October 11 after a proceeding
replete with State versus
Federal court and Brooklyn
versus Manhattan cultural
clashes, Sylvia Ash was freed
on $500,000 bond with a GPS
location monitoring bracelet.
Her Court
Street lawyer Roger Archibald
told reporters that she must
be presumed innocent, then
went back into the SDNY
Magistrates Court to work on
the logistics of his client's
release.
The
release had not been sure.
Assistant US Attorney Eli Mark
complained that Ash's lawyer
Archibald had inaccurately
told prosecutors that Ash was
on her way to Africa. Then
that Archibald, when he
learned Ash was instead on the
way to Miami, had not updated
or corrected the false
information.
Archibald
for his part said Ash she be
released without condition,
given what he called her
"pedigree." SDNY Magistrate
Judge Ona T. Wang quoted this
back in her decision, saying
that accepting that logic
would mean unconditional
release for any defendant with
a degree.
When Judge
Wang asked Archibold to make
his arguments under the
applicable Federal statute
under the Bail Reform Act,
Archibald said he did not have
a copy. Later he asked for the
preliminary hearing on October
21, when the government has at
least 21 days for defendants
who are bailed.
It
was state versus Federal,
Brooklyn versus Manhattan....
***
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