| After Trevor
Milton Verdict & Interviews Now He
Gets Extra Month for Motions To Review
Review,
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Guardian - Honduras
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w/
Exclusive Interviews by Matthew Russell
Lee
SDNY
Courthouse, Nov 5 – In
September and October 2022 Trevor
Milton, founder of Nikola Motor was put
on trial for fraudulent claims about
NKLA's hydrogen trucks.
On Friday,
October 14, Milton was found guilty on
three of four counts.
Published hours after the verdict was a
book
by Matthew Russell Lee, who live tweeted
and reported on the trial daily, and put
questions to Milton and his lawyers in
Foley Square outside.
And
the Monday after the Friday verdict,
Inner City Press conducted a second
interview, after a first, screen shots
on Patreon here
- and full version of 2d interview here
and below.
On
November 3, Milton's lawyer wrote to
Judge Ramos asking for an extra month to
file post-trial motions, saying he wants
to review and analyze post-trial
interviews of jurors: "
Dear Judge Ramos: This
letter is respectfully submitted on
behalf of defendant Trevor Milton to
request a 30 day extension of time to
file post-trial motions under Fed. R.
Cr. P. 29 and Rule 33. At present, the
motions are due on November 14, 2022.
The additional 30 days would make the
new submission date December 14, 2022.
The extra time sought is necessary for
two primary reasons. First, as the Court
is aware, the trial record in this
matter is extensive. Second, it has come
to our attention that after the verdict,
several jurors made comments and
statements to the media and/or online
concerning the trial and the
deliberations. The defense believes
these comments must be carefully
reviewed and analyzed in connection with
the post-trial motions. The government
consents to this requested extension of
time, although the abovementioned
reasons for the request are solely those
of the defense."
On
November 4, without commenting of
the relevance of jury interviews
to the post-trial motions, Judge
Ramos granted the 30 day
extension: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT
[250] LETTER MOTION addressed
to Judge Edgardo Ramos from
Marc L. Mukasey dated November
3, 2022 re: extension of time
to file Rules 29 and 33
motions...ENDORSEMENT...The
request for an initial, 30
day, extension of time to file
post-trial motions under
Fed.R.Crim.P.29 and 33 is
granted. SO ORDERED. (Signed
by Judge Edgardo Ramos on
11/4/22)." Watch
this site.
Interviews:
Juror #9, "V" - "Sure, Overall the
entire trial was very dense in terms of
information I myself I estimate took at
least 50 pages of notes front and back.
While Mr. Milton may not have liked the
result he should know that he did in
fact receive a completely fair trial in
my opinion. Personally in my notes I did
have to write "credibility?" and
ultimately did not use two witnesses
testimony in my deliberation reasoning
due to the fact I just couldn't find
them credible....
...
Roughly for the first hour and a half
absolutely no decision was made at all
on any counts. Personally it began to
feel like we may have been a hung jury.
"This is
when we began to request a few pieces of
evidence we did not take any notes on
that we needed to break the ice. Once we
received those aids deliberations became
smoother albeit there were moments of
silence here and there as we
contemplated what a juror may have said
or looked for a piece of evidence that
contradicted or further supported what
was said.
"That
being said on Count 2 that I've seen
many questions on after looking up to
see what the public thought was he was
close to being convicted he reached 2/3
requirements and we began discussing the
third it was then that I re-read the
charge and noticed that while similar to
count 1 count 2 had to meet ALL
requirements.
"When
asking if anyone noticed any evidence to
suggest the government had met this
criteria we found they fell
short. In regards to count
four I just wanted to mention we in fact
did not even like Mr. Hicks and
personally I believe he is greedy, but
examining the law Trevor was still in
fact guilty." Full interview on Patreon
here.
The case
is US v. Milton, 21-cr-478 (Ramos)
Watch this site.
Lee was each day in the courtroom
of U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Edgardo
Ramos, and venturing farther afield to
investigate leads exclusively give to
him and Inner City Press and by Nikola
whistleblowers.
As the trial wound down, Inner City
Press published descriptions of
documented destroyed within Nikola, and
guilty knowledge by officials still at
the company.
Material from those whistleblowers, the
trial and even some more speculative and
literary excursions featuring recurring
characters Kurt Wheelock and Michael
Randall Long, featured in the Ghislaine
Maxwell book "Maximum Maxwell" as noted
by New York Magazine, here,
made its way at the speed of the
Internet into the new book
"Hydrogen
Heist: The Trial of Nikola's Trevor
Milton: On Fraud, Guilty of 3 of 4
Counts; From Musk and Tesla Wannabe to
Convict in SDNY, by Matthew Russell Lee
E-book here;
paperbook here
This review will leave it to
others to find over-reaches and typos.
For his reporting, Lee was banned
from the United Nations in 2018 by SG
Antonio Guterres, whose Media
Accrediation chief Melissa Fleming has
ignored appeals from a UN Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of
Expression and, pro bono, the law firm
of Quinn
Emanuel.
One might surmise that history leads to
some of the book's (over?)
identification with the
defendant.
A full scope instantaneous view
of and taking off from trials like US v.
Trevor Milton seems to be Inner City
Press' project
here.
And here
it is.
***
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