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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Sept 27 – While many or even most cases in the Magistrates Court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York are sealed or have case numbers given only later, on September 27 Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger processed and detained two defendants just in from prison in Thailand whose indictment had just been unsealed.

Umar Sadiq and Rashid Mahmood were the subject of a sealed indictment for movement of heroin from Pakistan into the US in December 2018 when Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang signed warrants. The two arrived in New York from Thailand at 10:15 am on September 27.

Sadiq got Federal Defender Julia Gotto, fresh off her victory getting a Department of Homeless Services Sergeant who beat up a homeless man found not guilty. Mahmood got a CJA lawyer Mr. Zach who two clients later said when he parks in Harlem he sees many license plates from Georgia.

Ms Gatto said her client has IDS; Mahmood himself said he need Halal food and medicine for diabetes. Will they be better off in the MCC than Thai prison? Inner City Press will stay on this case.

The previous day September 26  Judge Lehrburger bound over, at least for a day, a man named Laureano for allegedly false statements to get a passport back in 2008. The second half of his docket number sounded lik 678. But for no year from 2008 to 2019 does that number yield a Laureano case. The proceeding was over when Judge Lehrburger re-opened it to tell Laureano about the separate crime of bail jumping. But what is his docket number?

Back on September 23 Judge Lehrburgerger accepted a guilty plea for having a gun as a felon in The Bronx by a Mister Petersen, without the District Judge, unnamed in the proceeding, having set a sentencing date.

There was only a conference date in October 10. No need to exclude Speed Trial Act time anymore - there will be no trial. The US Attorney's Office, which has yet to answer on US v Rodriguez, US v. Perlson and two US v. John Does, said this of another presentment: "Initial appearance of Alexei Saab –  the defendant was charged in a nine-count Indictment for offenses related to his support for Hizballah and separate marriage-fraud offenses – Magistrate’s Court (courtroom 5A, 500 Pearl Street)."We said we'd have more on this - and we do, covering his appearance before Judge Gardephe on September 25., here. SW