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By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive, Patreon

SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 21 – In the trial of US v. Jason Polanco many videos of store robberies in masks were shown on June 19, complete with play by play by one of the now unmasked participants, Joshua Kemp. Hours later a higher profile defendant scheduled for the same courtroom had a more effective mask: his unnumbered case was quietly adjourned, see below.

 Now on June 21 Polanco's lawyer Donna R. Newman has argued to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Engelmayer that based in part on Kemp's testimony he should adopt the "multi-conspiracy" charge used by his follow SDNY Judge J. Paul Oetken in US v. Polanco, 16-Cr-826 (PAE) at Dkt. #388.

  Among the bases for Polanco's lawyer's argument: "Kemp’s alleged sale of weed for his girlfriend Jessica, is insufficient to draw Polanco into the charged conspiracy—at best it might draw Kemp into Polanco’s separate weed conspiracy. Nothing the Government argues in their letter to the Court in opposition to the multiple conspiracy instruction defeats the testimony cited above that provides ample record evidence to warrant this Court to give the request instruction."

  Newman quotes from the transcript that is not yet on PACER, even in the SDNY courthouse:  Kemp’s testimony establishes (assuming, arguendo, for purposes of the narcotics conspiracy discussion in this letter only that Mr. Polanco committed that homicide) that it was a purely personal matter:

Kemp SB was in the neighborhood, and he was drunk, and he was I guess what we call wilding out.

THE COURT: Wilding out?

Kemp: Wilding, acting crazy. I guess something that SB said, Jin [ed.'s note: that is, Polanco] took offense to it, and he expressed that to Fred. And Fred told him, if you feel some type of way, then you can do something about it. And Fred gave Jin a gun, and he, Jin, went and did what he did...Like I said before, Fred told me that SB was drunk and he was mouthing off or acting crazy, and Jin took offense to it. Fred told him, if you feel some type of way about it, you can handle your business, and he gave him a gun, gave Jin a gun, and Jin shot SB. Tr407." We'll have more on this.  

  On June 19 in Bureau of Prison blues in the late morning, Kemp described buying Halloween masks on Fordham Road and targeting a liquor store in Washington Heights.

   In the courtroom of Judge Engelmayer the jurors started intently at their screens as Kemp chased a liquor store worker. The defendant, presumably, pushed a liquor store customer to the ground. Later they ran off down the sidewalk. Today everything is filmed.

  But there are still disputes. Polanco's lawyer Donna R. Newman on June 18 wrote to Judge Engelmayer about "the substantive Hobbs Act robbery of a Citgo station on November 24, 2014," saying that "there is no disinterested eyewitness identification of Mr. Polanco, no DNA, no fingerprints, and nothing that links Mr. Polanco to these robberies other than the word of a cooperating witness, Joshua Kemp."

  Inner City Press has asked the US Attorney's Office for the government exhibits. Later on June 19, a plea that Judge Engelmayer was supposed to take in US v Meyers, initially with no case number, was abruptly postponed. But Inner City Press is on the case - on June 20 at 4 pm the talk in Judge Engelmayer's courtroom was all Palanco and not the "disappeared" case, see below, @InnerCityPress and the new @SDNYLIVE:

   The US has quietly filed a criminal antitrust case against Banca IMI trader Larry D. Meyers, concealing the case number and adjourning what was listed as a plea proceeding on June 19 before Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Inner City Press can report.

  The case involves violations with the Sherman Act with respect to American Depository Receipts. It is a quiet part of a larger case.

   Back on 9 May 2019 DOJ Antitrust Division criminal chief James J. Fredricks signed a "Notice of Intent to File An Information" against Meyers. Through so-called "Wheel B" it was assigned to SDNY Judge Engelmayer, by Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang.

 On June 5 - it is not clear where -  Meyers and his attorney Dan Portnov "waive[d] in open court prosecution by indictment and consent[ed] that the proceeding may be by information instead of by indictment."

   That way, instead of through the more public Magistrates Court, Meyers' presentment was before Judge Engelmayer, with a Docket Number listed as "19-CR- [blank]," quickly released on $100,000 bond, travel restricted to the US and Ireland unlike most defendants confined to two or three US Districts.

  This is the VIP aisle of indictments, with the DOJ helping to avoid any possible perp walk.

  And so it was that while the week's SDNY "Civil and Criminal Proceedings Calendar" for the week of 06/17/19 listed on June 19 at 5 pm a plea before Judge Engelmayer in USA v. Meyers, 19-cr-[blank], the courtroom of Judge Engelmayer where Inner City Press had been earlier in the day on a Hobbs Act robbery trial was empty.

  There was no sign on the door explaining why, as was done for example on the door of Judge Deborah Batts about Michael Avenatti. There are VIP lines, and vip lines.

 Currently the docket does not show where the next proceeding will take place. But Inner City Press believes it knows. Watch this site - and for more, see its Patreon, here.

By contrast the last SDNY Magistrates Court case on June 19 before Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn seemed straightforward. Ricardo Reynoso, resident of Massachusetts, had been arrested at 11:30 am that day in Connecticut. Judge Netburn released him on $75,000 bond.

 Judge Netburn, who the previous day sealed and delayed docketing on a money laundering case from New Jersey completing the tri-state trifecta, told Ricardo Reynoso about a program she and another SDNY judge (apparently SDNY Chief Judge Collen McMahon) run. It is called Young Adult Opportunity Program.

Because Inner City Press is not *only* about pushing for transparency, for example of the a suddenly sealed sentencing before Judge Lorna G. Schofield on June 17, we link to this program here. It's all to the good. So is transparency, including on warrants. We'll have more on this.

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