| Melzer Who Wanted Mid East
War Has April 2022 Trial in SDNY Amid
Classified Info Fights
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
July 26 – Ethan Melzer a/k/a
Etil Reggad was charged with
conspiring to target his U.S.
Army unit, allegedly because
"another 10 year war in the
Middle East would definitely
leave a mark."
Since his
indictment his lawyers at
Federal Defenders have sought
information about the
selection of the grand jury,
and the constitution of the
Master and Qualified Jury
Wheels (others are seeking
this too, as covered by Inner
City Press here).
On July 6,
2020 he was arraigned before
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge Sarah
Netburn. Inner City Press live
tweeted it, below.
In November,
Melzer through his Federal
Defenders filed a motion to
dismiss based on the racial
and ethnic make up of the Jury
wheel used during the COVID-19
pandemic - in White Plains.
Now on July 26,
2021, this: "ORDER as to Ethan
Phelan Melzer. Trial in this
matter will commence at 9:00
a.m. on April 25, 2022. The
pretrial materials required by
Rule 6 of the Court's
Individual Rules of Practice
in Criminal Cases, including
motions in limine, are due no
later than February 1, 2022.
If any motions in limine are
filed, opposition papers are
due no later than seven days
after the date of service of
the motion. Reply papers, if
any, are due no later than
four days after the date of
service of the opposition.
Courtesy copies of motions in
limine should be submitted
when the motions are fully
briefed. The Court will hold a
final pretrial conference in
this matter on March 24, 2022
at 2:00 p.m."
On May 24,
Melzer's Federal Defenders
filed a 24-page motion to
dismiss arguing that "counts
must be dismissed because the
charged statutes do not reach
Mr. Melzer's overseas
conduct." They cite a 2018
Georgetown Law Journal
article.
As to the
Order of Nine Angles, which
the US calls a "Satanic
anarchist group founded in the
UK," the argument is for that
reason, the UK HQ, US law
cannot reach it. They
continue: "in the civil
context, federal courts have
repeatedly held that certain
civil laws do no reach conduct
on overseas U.S. military
bases because these bases are
not within the 'jurisdiction'
of the United States." Watch
this site.
Days earlier, on
May 20, the US Attorney Office
has put in a letter that
Melzer was taken into custody
at a U.S. military facility in
Europe on June 10, 2020 - and
was flown directly to Stewart
International Airport in
Newburgh, north of New York
City. Watch this site.
On
September 9 the assigned
District Judge, Gregory H.
Woods, arraigned Melzer on the
superseding indictment. Inner
City Press again live tweeted
it, below.
At week's
end the US Attorney's Office
previewed for Judge Woods
requests for sealing they will
make under CIPA: "To the
extent the Court would like
additional information about
the Government’s anticipated
CIPA § 4 motion, the
Government is available to
participate in an ex parte
classified CIPA § 2 conference
at the Court’s convenience.
See 18 U.S.C. app. 3 § 2
(establishing that the court,
at a party’s request or
on its own initiative, can
hold “a pretrial conference to
consider matters relating to
classified information that
may arise in connection with
the prosecution”); see also
United States v. Saipov, No.
S1 17 Cr. 722 (VSB), 2019 WL
5558214, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Oct.
29, 2019) (concluding that it
was proper for the Court to
conduct several ex parte
conferences, including a
conference pursuant to CIPA §
2). The Government anticipates
that by the time of the next
conference, defense counsel
will have had an opportunity
to review the limited amount
of classified discovery that
the Government plans to
produce and the Government’s
CIPA § 10 notice. Accordingly,
at that conference, the
Government will ask the Court
to set the deadline for the
Government’s CIPA § 4 motion
as the same date as the
deadline for the defendant’s
pretrial motions, and to set a
schedule for the defendant’s
CIPA § 5 notice and for CIPA §
6 briefing." Inner City Press
will continue to report on
this.
The case is US v.
Melzer, 20-cr-314 (Woods /
Netburn)
***
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