| Case Against
Couple For ISIS Support Goes Sealed Amid
CJA Lawyer's Complaint in SDNY
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
August 31 – The criminal case
against a couple charged with
trying to support ISIS and
attack cadets at West Point
has run into a dispute among
Criminal Justice Act lawyers
and a lengthy sealed
proceeding on August 31.
Inner City
Press was there - for large
portions, in the courthouse
hallway.
Arra
Muthana married James Bradley
and the Department of Justice
says they tried to go join
ISIS, on a ship from Newark,
after speaking to an
undercover law enforcement
officer about today "taking
out" cadets at West Point with
a vehicle. DOJ's Complaint is
online here.
The case
was listed in the day's
calendar of the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York. SDNY
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer had
summoned the lawyers, noting
that "the Court expects the
participants, given the
sensitivity of the situation,
to attend the conference in
person."
Given that
criminal proceeding are
presumptively public, and
given the COVID / Delta
pandemic, Inner City Press
called in on the AT&T
conference line assigned to
Judge Engelmayer. But,
strangely, it then asked that
an additional pass-code be
entered.
Inner City Press went to the
courtroom, at 1:50 pm for a
proceeding listed as starting
at 1:30 pm.
Inside, defendant
Arwa Muthana with a veil
covering her hair sat with US
Marshals with two attorneys.
Another CJA lawyer, Sabrina
Shroff, sat in the gallery,
along with the Assistant US
Attorney assigned to the
case.
The lawyer
in the front, Christine
Delince, had complained to
Judge Engelmayer that Ms.
Shroff had spoke with her
client. But it emerged that
the client had reached out to
Ms. Shroff, via CORRLINKS
email. Ms. Shroff told Arwa
Muthana that her lawyers were
working hard for her. But she
maintained that she has a
right to speak to whoever
reaches out to
her.
The
ancillary issued raised by Ms.
Delince, whose letter is
partial redacted, is that if
Bradley suggested to Muthana
that she contact CJA lawyer
Shroff, a conflict of interest
may be raised.
Judge
Engelmayer ordered most
people, including the Press,
out of the courtroom.
Inside were
Muthana and her two lawyer. In
the hallway outside were
Shroff, two AUSAs, Inner City
Press and another CJA lawyer
waiting for a sentencing
scheduled for 2 pm. That
defendant was brought up on
the elevator in shackled, then
taken downstairs
again.
After nearly an
hour, some but not all of
those in the hall were allowed
into the courtroom: the other
lawyers in or around the case,
including Shroff and two
lawyers for co-defendant James
Bradley, one of whom announced
that "everyone but the
government" could come in.
But Inner City
Press was told it could not
come in.
Later still, the
AUSA on the case was allowed
in, but not the AUSA awaiting
the now delayed 2 pm
sentencing nor the defense
lawyer for that
case.
When at last all
of the Muthana and Bradley
lawyers came out, no summary
of what had occurred was
provided. The delayed
sentencing appeared to come
together, but the court
reported had been kept too
long for the Muthana case.
So the
sentencing was pushed to
September 2; Judge Engelmayer
said that in the Muthana and
Bradley matter, two defendants
were being urgently produced
on September 1 (presumably
Muthana and
Bradley).
Certainly
attorney client privilege is
important. So too is the
principle that criminal
proceedings in Federal court
are open to the press and
public, to the maximum extent
possible. We'll see - watch
this site.
The case is US v.
Muthana, et al., 21-cr-277
(Engelmayer)
[There's more to
the story: Arwa Muthana is the
older sister of Hoda Muthana,
who ran away from her family
to join ISIS in 2014 but later
sought to return to the US.
"Anyone that believes in God
believes that everyone
deserves a second chance, no
matter how harmful their sins
were,' she told TV news from a
refugee camp in 2019. A
federal judge ruled later in
2019 that Hoda was no longer a
U.S. citizen and could not
return to the country.
Hoda and Arwa are daughters of
a Yemeni diplomat who became a
naturalized citizen while on
assignment in the United
States. We'll have more on
this, too - including the UN
(corruption) angle.]
***
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