Even in
MCC Prisoner
Tells SDNY No
Visits During
Shutdown As
Judge Caproni
Imposes 90
Months on
Bronx Mother
For Drugs
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope
video, II
III
FEDERAL
COURTHOUSE, February 11 – A
Bronx mother of two was
sentenced to 90 months in
Federal prison on February 11
in the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District after
arguing that the cold and lack
of visitors in lock-up pending
sentencing militated for a
lesser sentence. SDNY Judge
Valerie Caproni said that
conditions in the MCC where
the defendant Marilyn Vargas
had been were better than in
the MDC in Brooklyn which had
been left without heat, see
below. Marilyn Vargas said
guards told her she was "the
property of the BOP," the
Bureau of Prisons, and that no
visits were allowed during the
government shutdown. Judge
Caproni said that the shutdown
was not that long, a month or
six weeks. She questioned
where Vargas had been working
between 2000 and 2014, and why
she had been driving a Lexus
when caught "red handed" with
twenty kilograms of cocaine.
Vargas' lawyer replied that it
was a used Lexus, in someone
else's name. It was to no
avail. Judge Caproni said
Vargas seemed most sorry that
she was caught, inferring from
letters of support saying that
Vargas has made a one-time
mistake that Vargas had no
come clean to her friends
about the extend of her
involvement in the drug trade.
Vargas' two daughters, 30 and
19, were in the Thurgood
Marshall courthouse
proceeding. Vargas spoke
before sentencing, near tears,
citing her mother in Puerto
Rico and desire to scare
straight other single mothers
in her Christian communities
in The Bronx. While
agreeing to
recommend FCI
Danbury, Judge
Caproni
went to the higher end of the
sentencing guidelines,
choosing 90 months from the
range of 78 to 97 months.
Marilyn Vargas was led out of
the courtroom, her feet
shackled. Inner City Press and
the other attendees - no other
journalists - were told to
wait until Vargas was taken
away on the elevator,
seemingly with shackles
re-applied to her
wrists. It stood in
contrast to lighter sentences
on corporate defendants, and
impunity for diplomats and the
UN as a whole. We'll have more
on this. Back on February 5
when Judge Analisa Torres
returned at 7:30 pm from the
Brooklyn MDC to her courtroom
in the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York, those assembled - six
journalists, Federal
Defenders, two named
plaintiffs in tan prison
guards - seemed to agree that
something would happen,
perhaps a ruling for a special
master to oversee the MDC.
Judge
Torres asked both Federal
Defenders' Dierdre
Dionysia von
Dornum and the
FBI's John Ross to
describe that
they'd
seen on the
visit to the
MDC with her,
which Latitia
James also
accompanied
(though no
journalists,
despite
requests in
written and orally in
the court). Ms
von Dornum
said the
lights were on and
it was
warmer, but still
no medical
treatment and
few lawyers'
visits. The
expectation of
a ruling for a
special master grew.
But when Judge
Torres issued
her ruling,
it concerned
the failure of
the two
inmates to
take the
standard and
provide even
"a shred of
evidence"
of their
claims, that one would face
retaliation
and the other
needed a
transfer on
medical
groups. When it was
offered that
the
testify now, past 8
pm, Judge Torres
denied it,
saying it was
too late. An
affidavit
will be
provided later
but the moment
was lost. The
request for
a special
master, Judge Torres
said, had been
raised, and
more
appropriately,
in the civil
litigation
in the Eastern
District of
New York -
where, Inner
City Press learned from
a case
participant
who said "off
the record" a
meeting of all
judges and the
US Attorney
took place,
trying to
solve "the whole
situation."
There was
criticism of
Nicole McFarland,
of the
continuing
denial of medical
treatment and
timely
lawyers' visits.
But none of
these were
addressed much
less solved on
Tuesday
night. Inner
City Press
retrieved
its
electronics,
did a
Periscope
broadcast (here) and this story,
from the stone
chess
(actually
backgammon)
table across
Worth Street
from the SDNY
courthouse.
We'll be here
more.
Upcoming in the
SDNY is a just-filed complaint
by the Bangladesh Central Bank
for the $81 million hacking of
its funds, which were then
wired through the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, a case
that Inner City Press will
cover. Times change. Watch
this site.
***
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