| US
Bid To Cut Audio To Honduras Challenged By
Inner City Press On 1st Amendment Grounds
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Song Filing
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 15 – Does the right to
access to Federal court
proceedings extend to
listen-only telephone lines,
in the time of COVID and
beyond? Should it?
The
question has been further
raised in the ongoing Honduras
narco-trafficking case US v.
Geovanny Fuentes, which Inner
City Press has been covering
in-person in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York, where it
is "in-house press."
On
the morning of March 13, Inner
City Press filed a challenge
to the cut-off of audio access
to the US v. Fuentes trial,
citing the First Amendment,
COVID and real-world politics,
see here
and below.
Late on
the evening of March 14, the
US Attorney's Office filed a
three page letter into the
docket, specifically arguing
the the call-in line be
eliminated for two entire
Witnesses and everything they
say. US Attorney's Office's
letter, now uploaded on Inner
City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
Inner City
Press has immediately
responded in opposition, here,
stating among other things
that "the US Attorney's Office
seeks to specifically ban
public access to two of their
Witnesses, while saying that a
transcript would be available
at some unspecified date
afterwards. Given that the
Office has yet to unseal
improperly redacted portions
of their filings, there is
little reason to have
confidence in the speed of
transcription, or that such
transcripts would not be too
expensive for the public or
media.
Furthermore, the US Attorney's
Office's letter, which Inner
City Press is herein
specifically opposing with a
request for docketing and a
written ruling, evidences the
very dangers discussed in our
March 13 submission:
collective punishment, and
possibily allowing the
supporters of, say, Juan
Orlando Hernandez to by
uploaded audio discourage
public knowledge and reporting
of what Witness-1 and
Witness-2 testify
to. The US
Attorney's Office essentially
says that because one or a few
more individuals broke the
rules, all should be punished:
collective punishment. It is
significant how old their case
is: "There is no First
Amendment right to broadcast
courtroom proceedings. See
Estes v. State of Texas, 381
U.S. 532, 539-540
(1965)."
But the First Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution guarantees
to the public a right of
access to court proceedings.
U.S. CONST. AMEND. I; Globe
Newspaper Co. v. Superior
Court, 457 U.S. 596, 603
(1982)....
"That the defense
might not object is of no
import to the public's and
press' right. In fact, many in
Honduras have remarked that
the defense, so far, seems as
intent on defending Juan
Orlando Hernandez as on
defending this particular
defendant. (Inner City Press
expresses no view on that
expressed opinion, which we
would be happy to document to
the court during the requested
oral
argument.)
If the US Attorney's Office
for the SDNY so routinely
seeks to reach beyond not only
its District, but the United
States, to bring cases, it
should not be allowed to
argument on little notice to
cut off access to those most
impacted by the cases and
their contents, no matter if
these people are beyond the
District and clearly cannot
come in the overflow room.
That the US Attorney's Office
does not address the COVID /
physical presence in the
courthouse issues shows this
lack of concern."
Inner City Press
after its first filing waited
nine hours, including this song,
here, to report about
it. Full first letter on Inner
City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
Inner City
Press itself obeys all
existing rules and is grateful
for the additional access as
in-house media (particularly
since it is banned
from covering the UN, which
now Constitutional rights such
as the First Amendment exist).
But others
have rights too - including
journalists and regular
citizens of Honduras. If the
SDNY prosecutors are going to
exercises essentially
universal jurisdiction for any
wire transfer that passes
through lower Manhattan, how
ever briefly, they should not
oppose access to their trials
by those impacted, for better
and worse.
Judge Castel is a
good judge, in Inner City
Press' experience. When
petitioned he has ordered the
unsealing of certain court
documents, in a North Korea crypto-currency
conference case and the tech /
child sex sentencing
of Peter Bright former of
ArsTechnica, both of which
Inner City Press covered and requested.
And Judge Castel is certainly
in the mainstream in his March
12 psoition. But should it be
rethought? Is there a right?
Should there be? Watch this
site.
The
Honduras narco-trafficking
trial of US v. Geovanny
Fuentes Ramirez began on the
morning of March 9.
Inner City Press was there.
Inner
City Press
live tweeted
the first
opening
argument here.
And then the
first witness,
DEA Agent
Brian
Fairbanks, to
the end of the
day, here.
Geovanny
Fuentes was sitting at the
defense table, with two U.S.
Marshals citing six feet
behind him. The prosecutors
were the table in front,
closest to the judge.
U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge P.
Kevin Castel has been asked
about docuemnts still sealed
in the record, and not yet
provided. On the afternoon of
March 10, more of the first
cooperating witness: Leonel
Rivera. Inner City Press live
tweeted the morning here
and the afternoon here.
On the
morning of March 11, Leonel
Rivera testified that los
Cachiros bribed JOH, and that
the defendant told him he had
twice paid JOH is cash. Inner
City Press live tweeted it,
including:
AUSA: Who is
this?
Leonel Rivera:
Juan Orlando Hernandez, the
president.
AUSA: Did the
Cachiros bribe Juan Orlando
Hernandez with drug money?
Leonel Rivera:
Yes. [Si, senior] With
$250,000.
AUSA: How was it
delivered?
Leo Rivera: In
cash. To his sister. USA: What
was the bribe for?
Leo Rivera: So
that we would not be arrested
or extradited. AUSA: Do you
recognize this person?
Leo Rivera: Tony
Hernandez, the president's
brother. AUSA: Gov't offers
Exhibit 113. Defense: No
objection.
AUSA: What did
you give Tony Hernandez?
Leo Rivera: I gave him $50,000
in cash. In Tegucigalpa. In a
restaurant named Denny's.
The case is US v. Diaz, 15-cr-379
(Castel).
***
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