| SDNY Grand Jury Probe of
2017-20 Had Balde Motion To Dismiss Denied Now
Trial Feb 14
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 3 – On a legal call
designed to give defense
counsel information about
White Plains grand juries in
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York, live tweeted by Inner
City Press, it emerged that a
grand jury has "met" in the
SDNY in Manhattan in the last
week.
Apparently, some
grand jurors participated by
video.
This seems
noteworthy, given for example
that in March allowing a
single juror in the US v. Ali
Sadr Hashemi Nejad trial to
deliberate by video required
the defendant's consent. Why
not this? Below is the blow by
blow, then background on one
of the underlying cases, US v.
Balde (there is also US v. Schulte,
and other
cases).
On August
27, in the lead Balde case,
"Defendant did not receive the
expected production from the
Jury Administrator."
On May 17,
2021, Judge Failla held a
proceeding in Balde, and Inner
City Press covered it. It was
to read out loud her decision,
which was to deny Balde's
motion to dismiss back on the
use of the White Plains grand
jury.
She called it a
serious question, but noted
for example a decision from
the Northern District of New
York, that it was OK to move a
trial for a crime in Syracuse
to less diverse Utica.
She said there is
no right to a grand jury in
the division of the SDNY a
crime in committed in, and
that COVID meant these was no
prosecutorial gamesmanship.
She mentioned Shulte,
Tagliaferro and other cases.
Now on June 3, a
US v. Balde trial date has
been set: "ORDER as to
Souleymane Balde: It is hereby
ORDERED that the following
trial schedule will be in
effect as to Defendant
Souleymane Balde, subject to
courtroom availability: Trial
will commence on February 14,
2022, at 9:00 a.m.; The
parties respective jury charge
requests, proposed voir dire
questions, and any motions in
limine will be due January 19,
2022; Any opposition papers to
motions in limine will be due
January 26, 2022; and The
final pretrial conference will
be scheduled for February 2,
2022, at 3:30 p.m. in
Courtroom 618 of the Thurgood
Marshall Courthouse, 40 Foley
Square, NY NY." Inner
City Press will continue to
cover the case.
After an
earlier proceeding, this was
filed: "Minute Entry for
proceedings held before Judge
Katherine Polk Failla:
Telephone Conference as to
Souleymane Balde held on
6/30/2020. Defendant
Souleymane Balde's presence
waived; Attorney Jennifer
Willis representing Defendant
present. AUSAs Kiersten
Fletcher, Mary Christine
Slavik and Thomas McKay
present. Court reporter Pamela
Utter present. Thomas Burnett,
Nick Chiuchiolo, Peter Davis,
Sid Kamaraju, Lindsey Keenan,
Sarah Kushner, Tom McKay,
Daniel Nessim, Josiah Pertz,
Andrew Rohrbach, Thomas
Wright, Annalisa Miron, Ariel
Werner, Christopher Flood,
David Patton, Robert Baum,
Edward Zas, Jonathan Marvinny,
Donna Newman, Sabrina Shroff,
Bobbi Sternheim, Michael
Bachrach, Ken Montgomery,
Counsel in the following
cases, also present: 20 Cr.
288(LJL), 20 Cr. 293(LJL), 20
Cr. 286(WHP), 17 Cr. 548(PAC),
20 Cr. 301(PKC), 20 Cr.
300(PAC), 20 Cr. 303(RMB), 20
Cr. 294(PKC), 20 Cr. 292(PKC),
20 Cr. 304(AJN). Jury
Administrator Linda Thomas and
Counsel to the Clerk of Court
Robert Rogers present. By
7/14/20, and after
consultation with the expert,
other defense counsel and the
government, Ms. Willis hall
file a letter in the Balde
case, with defendant's request
for records." We will have
more on this.
The case
is now US v. Balde, 20-cr-281
(Failla).
***
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