Virtual Juror In SDNY Trial Of
Iranian Banker Ali Sadr To Use
FaceTime As USA Berman in Mag Court
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Thread,
Patreon
Song
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 16 – Iranian banker Ali
Sadr Hashemi Nejad is on
trial, charged with money
laundering and violating US
sanctions including through a
Venezuelan infrastructure
project.
On March
16 amid the Coronavirus
COVID-19 crisis, jury
deliberations ran into a
problem. SDNY Judge Nathan
proposed proceeding with ten
jurors in the jury room and
one connected from outside by
video.
Assistant
US Attorney Michael Krause
objected. But Judge Nathan
said there are extraordinary
circumstances and she would
proceed thusly.
Judge
Nathan then spoke to the
remote (male) juror by video.
He is at home with wife, child
and child care worker. She
told him, if and when they
need his attention, all
deliberations must cease.
Inner City
Press has learned, with
gratitude, that the juror said
while he has Zoom and
WhatsApp, he'd use FaceTime.
He did not say he has been
tested positive for COVID-19,
only that he felt sick and
stayed home out of an
abundance of caution.
Inner City
Press live tweeted it all:
thread here.
More on Patreon here.
In other
SDNY and Coronavirus news,
Inner City Press raised
this issue of the virtual
juror to none other than US
Attorney for the SDNY Geoffrey
S. Berman, who came to visit
the Magistrates Court which
Inner City Press closely
covers. It was apparently to
see if it was running
smoothly. Inner City Press has
heard of Saturday proceedings,
and pleas referred down from
Judge Swain. We'll have more
on this.
The
SDNY US Attorney's Office has
double standards on
#Coronavirus: it wants the US
v. Andrews trial to go
forward, and wants other
stopped. Defense lawyers say
some AUSAs have asked to and
are working from home.
Ali Sadr is
represented by lawyer Reid
Weingarten of Steptoe &
Johnson and, on November 25 as
reported
by Inner City Press by Brian
M. Heberlig
before U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Judge Alison J. Nathan.
On Sunday,
March 8 [alongside this song]
the US Attorney Office which
closed its
case on March
9 past
9 pm submitted a letter, here.
The case is US
v. Nejad,
18-cr-00224
(Nathan).
***
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