| Dramatist Pivnik Who Bragged
Of Sharing 11 Year Old Boy Now Wants
Sentencing in Dec
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Oct 15 – A thirty year old man
accused by the government of
distributing pornographic
images of infants and bragging
that he was grooming an 11
year old boy had been freed on
bond to his mother's house in
Freehold, New Jersey, as
exclusively reported by Inner
City Press.
On
September 3, 2019 Bryan
Pivnik's pre-trial freedom was
ended by U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge P. Kevin
Castel.
The next
day in the public docket was a
trial set for January 28,
2020. On January 16, this was
listed in PACER:
"19-cr-00464-PKC-1 USA v.
Pivnick Pretrial
Conference Matthew Daniel
Myers representing Bryan
Pivnick (Defendant) Thomas
John Wright representing USA
(Plaintiff) ."
But when
Inner City Press went, Pivnick
was not there. Inner City
Press was politely told that
Pivnick had pleaded guilty. A
check of the docket found
non-live links to a change of
plea proceeding, a "redacted
transcript" and no sentencing
date.
In May
2020, the sentencing was moved
further back from May 20 to
June 24, 2020 "in light of the
national emergency declared
over the coronavirus pandemic,
the ongoing restrictions
resulting from that national
emergency on counsel’s access
to certain materials, and the
public-health mandate amidst
that national emergency to
postpone public events, where
possible and appropriate in
light of all of the
circumstances."
But now in
June, more delay. From
Pivnik's lawyer on June 9:
"USA v. Pivnik... I
represent Bryan Pivnick who is
currently scheduled for
sentencing June 24th, 2020
before Your Honor. Because of
the unique circumstances
behind Mr. Pivnick’s case, the
Defense will not be consenting
to any form of remote
electronic sentencing
procedure. With the Court’s
permission we ask that this
matter be adjourned to
September 23, 2020 at 2:30pm
for sentencing." Unique
circumstances.
Now in
mid-October, more delay.
Pivnick's defense lawyer says
while he's visited Pivnick in
the Westchester County Jail,
he wants to go again, to
prepare Pivnick's comments at
sentencing - so delay the
sentencing to December. Inner
City Press will stay on this
case.
Back on
November 14 with in the
courtroom gallery Pivnick's
mother and step-father, Inner
City Press and the mother of
the child at issue, Judge
Castel denied Pivnick's motion
to suppress his pre-arrest
statement. Judge Castel said
there was no way Pivnick, in
his own apartment, was subject
to a custodian interview
requiring the reading of
Miranda rights.
Then Judge
Castel denied Pivnick's notion
concerning his phone, find
among other things exigent
circumstances: Pivnick could
have deleted the Telegram app
on his phone. (This happened
recently in a 911 health care
information fraud mass
indictment: a defendant asked
for his phone to look for a
contact, and deleted his
WhatsApp and all the messages
on it).
So now,
the trial. Inner City Press
will continue to cover this
case.
Back
on September 3, Pivnik arrived
for a pre trial conference, as
in July, in a blue blazer
accompanied by his mother and
step father. His lawyer
Matthew Myers had filed a
motion to suppress his cell
phone with child pornography
and boasts of grooming on it.
Myers asked that the
government not respond yet to
his motion, since he has a
mitigation brief pending.
Then it
turned. Pivnik has tested
positive for meth, five days
after the last conference in
the case at which as on
September 3 Inner City Press
was the only media present.
Myers
tried to focus on the chain of
custody of Pivnik's urine,
sent to an outside lab after
the person administered the
test found that the sample was
cold, and not as expected
warm.
Judge
Castel grew frustrated at the
urine argument, and then began
to ask about the underlying
complaint, which Inner City
Press covered at the time of
presentment in the SDNY
Magistrates Court. Pivnik
bragged he was grooming the 11
year old brother of his
boyfriend James.
Myers,
perhaps sensing the danger to
his client, said that James'
mother Geraldine Chapman was
at the presentment in the Mag
Court. That was true - but as
Inner City Press remembers is,
Ms. Chapman while praising
Pivnik for his work on a
musical drama said she would
never again allow her younger
son to see him.
As Judge
Castel read from the
complaint, including
interpreting "hee hee" as a
devilish laugh, an SDNY Court
Security Officer came in, then
another. Clearly, remand was
now a possibility.
Finally
Judge Castel asked for final
arguments from Assistant US
Attorney Thomas John Wright,
who asked for remand, and
Myers, who said he had no more
to say. Then after a
silence in which Castel
flipped through papers, the
decision was reached: remand.
The two
Court Security Officers
surrounded Pivnik. As another
case, that of Craig Smith
represented by Bennett
Epstein, was called the CSOs
allowed Pivnik to hug his
mother, who was crying. He sat
in the back until two U.S.
Marshals arrived. He took off
his blazer.
More on
Patreon here.
On May 30
Bryan Pivnick
was brought in
foot shackles
before SDNY Magistrate
Judge James L.
Cott after 6
pm. Assistant
US Attorney
Thomas Wright,
who later
confirmed the
spelling of Pivnick's
name to Inner
City Press,
argued for detention.
He
described
Telegram
messages on February
10, 2019 in which
Pivnick said
he was "getting
close to the
11 y/o bro"
of his
boyfriend. The
same 11
year old was
found in
Pivnick's
apartment when
he was
arrested.
The
next
proceeding
will be
sentencing.
Inner City
Press and @SDNYLIVE aim to be there.
***
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