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By Matthew Russell Lee

SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 12 – When Ariosto Matos came for sentencing for trafficking fentanyl which he had thought was heroin, the court of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Victor Marrero was full on one side with Matos' family and friends. After credit under the safety value provisions of the First Step Act, Matos still faced a guideline of 87 to 108 months in prison, to be followed by deportation to the Dominican Republic. But his Federal Defender argued that he hadn't known it was fentanyl, and Judge Marrero seemed to agree. He sentenced Matos to 60 months and no supervised release term. The Assistant US Attorney after first protested then read the law and relented. He will be deported. He gave a thumbs-up and wave and was taken away in shackles.le

Cuong Bang has been charged with trafficking kilos of Mexican meth and having ammunition, if perhaps not live, in his bedroom, or perhaps not his bedroom. All this was debated on April 10 before SDNY Judge  Gregory Woods. The counsel for the United States argued that Bang has no respect for the law. But that seemed based on juvenile charges of shoplifting. Likewise, trips with his family to Aruba and Mexico and Brazil, cited to show the dangers of flights, may just have been family vacations. The question raised in SDNY Courtroom 12C, and later down in low-ceiling Magistrate Court, was whether naturalized Americans and legal residents are necessarily treated worse on bail applications. Inner City Press, the only media in 12C then in 5A, will have more on this.

  The Federal Defenders scored a big win in a misdemeanor proceeding that only Inner City Press attended and covered on April 2. They defeated the U.S. Attorney's Office which argued that the simple assault they agreed to on a dispute on a cruise ship required allocution to actual physical conflict. There was case law on the Federal Defenders' side, and a plea to making a threat on the cruise ship - in "international waters" -- was found sufficient. The case was United States v. Batista, 18 Cr. 730 (NRB). The Federal Defenders lawyer was Sabrina P. Shroff, whom Inner City Press has previously covered in the UN bribery cases of Patrick Ho (new Hong Kong documentary here), getting bail for Cheikh Gadio, and of Ng Lap Seng, representing hapless Jeff Yin. The issue in Batista was whether simple assault requires the defendant to "strike or choke." Ms. Shroff cited the US v Denis and US v Chestaro cases, and the matter was quickly disposed by Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in her relatively small courtroom on the 21st floor of 500 Pearl Street. The question is why the U.S. Attorney's Office in this case had not researched basic case law - and whether the defendant Carlos Batista, Junior, from the Dominican Republic, must now be deported. We hope to have more on this.

Earlier on April 2, in 40 Foley: "I was a street drug dealer in from of my building in the Bronx," a defendant told SDNY Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on April 2. Defendant Gonzalez was pleading guilty to a lesser included charge, with a guideline sentence of between 120 and 150 months in jail. But he won't be sentenced until July 11 at 2:30 pm, after the Probation Department does its interview and issues a Pre Sentencing Report that will remain sealed until, somehow, Gonzalez appeals. We'll have more on this - there were no family members in the courtroom, no media other than Inner City Press. Less than hour earlier when Eldar Rakhamimov appeared for sentencing for inflating the number of Pepsi and Canada Dry bottles returned through his business in the SDNY courtroom of Judge Ronnie Abrams, he had many of his employees and family members with him. His lawyer Tony Mirvis pointed them out, arguing that if not sentenced to jail he could pay back the $700,000 restitution faster. But half of the debt is to the State of New York; recently Judge Abrams rejected just such has argument from a medical software company executive on tax fraud. Here, Judge Abrams went below the 37 to 46 month guideline sentence, to 15 months with two years of supervised released - the books of his recycling company will be open - and a $15,000 fine. Two of his employees were asked to take off their caps by the Court Security Officers. The prosecutor said, It would not be a bad thing if his company just fell apart. The case is US v. Eldar Rakhamimov,  18 – CR – 72 (RA).

The day before in a class action lawsuit against BHH's rodent repellers creeps toward trial or settlement, SDNY Judge William Pauley heard arguments and ruled on no fewer than 14 motions in limine. There were nine from the class action plaintiffs, mostly successful, and five from the defendant, most unsuccessful.

During the three hours of argument, Judge Pauley said today is not the day to admit anonymous customer reviews from Amazon.com from the likes of "TaterSpud59" (whom he referred to as Tater Tot), and said that FTC press releases dubious about repellers will or would be admissible at trial, with a possible limiting instruction.

There was discussion of experts including a Michigan State University protocol which Judge Pauley shot down, adding that after MSU's victory over Duke, he is not disposed toward them. Judge Pauley took more time listening to arguments than many other judges would, and said he said spent the rainy Sunday - on which Duke was eliminated from NCAA March Madness - to read all of the papers. The sense, after the mouse motion marathon, was that the plaintiffs are in the driver's seat, and that the case may settle.