| Alec Dupuis
Pled To Fentanyl Then Redacted So Press
Challenged now Here Is Sentencing Memo
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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BBC
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SDNY Courtroom
Exclusive, Nov 18 –
Alec Dupuis charged with
selling deadly fentanyl
(resulting in the death of 24
year old Peter Krasniqi on
August 11, 2020) and also
mushrooms containing psilocin,
had his condominium on West
56th Street in Manhattan
raided and search in December
2021.
But
he had heard the police were
coming and had left. He had a
airplane ticket to the UK, of
which he is a dual citizen.
The authorities
learned of the flight. His
mother hired a lawyer and,
after a few days, he turned
himself in and had been
detained
since.
On February 4, U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Jed
S. Rakoff held a bond
proceeding. Inner City Press
covered it, below.
On August 12,
this was ordered: "A change of
plea hearing is set for
defendant Dupuis on August 18
at 2pm in Courtroom 14B.
(Change of Plea Hearing set
for 8/18/2022 at 02:00 PM
before Judge Jed S.
Rakoff.)."
Inner City Press
went on August 18 and live
tweeted it, here
and below.
In advance of
Dupuis' sentencing, his lawyer
put in a memo that was largely
redacted. Inner City Press
immediately filed opposition,
here.
Re: Press
application to be heard / to
unseal sentencing memo in US
v. Dupuis, 21-cr-707-(JSR)
Dear Judge
Rakoff:
Inner City Press has been
covering the above captioned
criminal case and on the
evening of November 15 saw the
heavily redacted sentencing
memorandum put on the public
docket. The redaction go far
beyond what case law supports.
Inner City Press hereby
opposes the redactions... This
Court has previously granted
an e-mailed Inner City Press
request to unseal, in US v.
Weigand, 20-cr-188 (JSR), see
Dkt. No. 250.
Defense
counsel has redacted much of
the Table of Contents, and the
entirety of pages 5, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15, 19, and much
of the rest of the pages.
In my time
covering sentencing
proceedings in Federal courts,
this is the most heavily
redacted sentencing submission
I've seen, and it does not
implicate national security
information (as in US v.
Joshua Schulte and other cases
in SDNY).
The
over-redaction is particularly
troubling given that, despite
the death caused in this case,
the plea agreement is to a
drug count, with the assurance
given the defendant would not
contest certain predictable
results in the sentencing. How
to know, with the level of
redaction? Inner City Press is
also challenging the partial
redactions of letters of
support, and Exhibits D and E
in its entirety." Full filing
on DocumentCloud here.
Judge
Rakoff on the morning of
November 17 ordered: "ORDER as
to Alec Dupuis. Defendant Alec
Dupuis was previously ordered
to submit any materials
bearing on sentencing by
November 15, 2022. On that
date, defense counsel sent a
letter to the Court seeking
permission to redact certain
of the information in the
publicly filed version of such
materials. See ECF No. 23.
Without waiting for the Court
to grant or deny that
application, defendant filed a
redacted version of his
sentencing materials on the
public record. See ECF No. 22.
Later that same day, Matthew
Russell Lee from the Inner
City Press sent a letter to
the Court objecting to the
redactions in the defendant's
sentencing materials. Having
now had an opportunity to
compare the redacted and
unredacted versions of such
materials, the Court finds
that most of the redactions
are excessive and unnecessary.
There may, however, still be
some small items that may
justifiably be redacted.
Accordingly, counsel for the
Government and the defendant
must call the Court at 4:15 PM
today to discuss what, if
anything, should remain
redacted, following which a
new (much less redacted)
version of the materials will
be filed on the public record.
SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge
Jed S. Rakoff on 11/17/2022)."
On November 18,
defense counsel refiled the
sentencing memo onto ECF /
PACER, which Inner City Press
the same day published for all
to see on DocumentCloud, here.
Initially
redacted was material
minimizing Dupuis'
responsibility, saying he only
killed an addict because he
was an addict (not all addicts
sell deadly drugs), and more.
Watch this site.
From August 18:
Ok- now at guilty plea of Alec
Dupuis, charged with selling
deadly fentanyl (resulting in
the death of 24 year old Peter
Krasniqi on August 11, 2020)
Judge Rakoff: You
are being offered the lesser
included offense of conspiracy
to distribute fentanyl, in any
amount. Dupuis: Yes.
Judge: You
signed a plea agreement. The
guideline is 324 to 405 months
-- Dupuis' retained cousel,
former Federal Defendet Ser:
20 years is the maximum.
Judge: You
have agreed not to dispute
your role in the death by
fentanyl, at sentencing. AUSA:
Ask if he's a citizen [to
disclose possible risks]
Dupuis: I was
born in Manhattan. I plead
guilty.
Judge:
Sentencing on Nov 22.
Adjourned.
Note: there were
ten in the gallery, family and
friends, one in a Sail Inn
shirt.
Back on
February 4, retained defense
lawyer Ilana Haramati, who
also represented movie
producer Dillon Jordan on
prostitution charges, argued
to Judge Rakoff that a bond
could be secured by her
client's father, flush with
money from a whistleblower
case, she said.
But the
Assistant US Attorney
countered that the father had
been in Chapter 7 bankruptcy
and that the home, in Texas,
is highly leveraged. He
conceded that the US has an
extradition treaty with the
UK, but only for crimes on the
books in both countries - in
the same apparently.
Judge
Rakoff said, part of Inner
City Press' live
tweeted thread of the
proceeding, that "The
extradition issue is serious.
The huge penalties we have
make foreign courts eager to
avoid extradition to our Land
of Mass Incarceration."
The
defense lawyer tried, last
stab, to say that Mr. Dupuis
can execute a waiver of
execution.
Judge Rakoff replied, I will
reduce that as a
consideration. But there is a
glaring problem. He sold
disguised drugs. It reflects
an attitude to the law and of
civilized behavior; he would
be a danger. He cares so
little that it led to the
death of another. I deny the
motion.
The final
tweet in the thread
was "Dupuis puts his hand over
his (red) hair, glances back
at the gallery. Now he is gone
with the US Marshals." But,
Inner City Press wrote, that
will not be the end of the
story.
And it hasn't
been. On April 7 Judge Rakoff
held an in-person proceeding,
and Inner City Press was
there. Dupuis through his
lawyer Henry Mazurek said
there are plea negotiations
taking place.
Judge Rakoff said he
inferred that from the lack of
motions filed. He set a
September 6 trial date.
Dupuis' family / supports were
in the gallery and Judge
Rakoff apologized that the
courtroom was needed for
another, paused proceeding.
Inner City Press will continue
to cover the cases.
On
Instagram, there is an account
of an Alec Dupuis, who is
aka-ed in the indictment as
"nysgas" with a photo of a
definition of gas as
high-grade marijuana and quote
from lyrics ("Smoking gas in a
rental / She giving me
mental") by Juicy J.
On March 1, this
was docketed: "Minute Entry
for proceedings held before
Judge Jed S. Rakoff: Telephone
Conference as to Alec Dupuis
held on 2/28/2022. A telephone
conference was held 2-28-2022
without transcription or
recording. AUSA Thomas John
Wright for the Government and
Ilana Haramati for defendant
were present. Defendants
motion to adjourn the deadline
for pretrial motions is
granted. The deadline is
adjourned to March 28, 2022.
The conference set to March
11, 2022 is adjourned to April
7, 2022 at 2pm in Courtroom
14B. (Pretrial Conference set
for 4/7/2022 at 02:00 PM."
This case is US
v. Dupuis, 21-cr-707
(Rakoff)
***
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