| Italian
Man Is Allowed To Withdraw 2002 Guilty
Plea By SDNY Magistrate Judge Gorenstein
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive
Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
August 21 – An Italian man
who pleaded
guilty to
possession of
GHB and GHL in
2002, Marco
Pievana, was
eighteen years
later on
August 21
allowed to
withdraw his guilty
plea by
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York Magistrate Judge
Gabriel W. Gorenstein.
The
status
conference in
the old case
was set for 10
am. Inner City
Press got
there at 10:02
by which time
Judge Gorenstein
was saying, I
grant the
motion to
withdraw the
guilty plea.
What next?
The Assistant
US Attorney, listed on
the docket as
Kedar Sanjay
Bhatia, asked
Judge
Gorenstein for
three weeks to
discuss
the case with
Pievani's
lawyers, four
of whom were in
the otherwise
empty
courtroom.
Inner City
Press was alone
in the gallery
of Magistrate
Judge
Gorenstein's
courtroom tucked
away on the
6th floor of
500 Pearl
Street across
from the Clerk
of Court.
Judge
Gorenstein
said fine, and
picked
September
11. He asked, Do
we even need a
conference? Or
can you just
sent me a
letter.
We'll send a
letter, the AUSA
said. Do all
defendants
with immigration
issues get
treated this
way? What
explains this?
Watch this
site.
For
background, it
is called the
writ of error
coram nobis,
and Judge
Gorenstein has
signaled he
will grant it.
In an earlier
hearing on the
matter Judge Gorenstein
said, "I'm not
adverse to
doing something
that's within
the bounds
of the law. So
if you can put
that together
I'll look at
it." The case
is US v.
Marco Pievani,
02-cr-389
(GWG).
The 2002
guilty plea
left Pievani
vulnerable to
deportation,
something that
happens to
less affluent,
or less well
represented,
defendants
every day in
the SDNY.
Represented by
Ellen M.
Murphy of the
Orrick law
firm, Pievani
now has
a hearing
scheduled for
August 21,
even as Judge
Gorenstein
is presiding
over the SDNY
Magistrates
Court.
While
many even most
cases in the
Magistrates
Court of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York are
sealed or have
case numbers
given only
later, on August
20
before
Magistrate
Judge Gabriel
W. Gorenstein
a man was
presented and
released
with no case
number being
given.
His name
was pronounced
Christopher
Ansa,
charged with
among other
things
exporting
stolen motor
vehicles.
The Assistant US
Attorney said
he had a
passport from
Ghana
and asked for
location
monitoring.
Judge
Gorenstein
said the US
had not met
its burden and
said he gave
then ten to fifteen
minutes to
come to an
agreement.
Inner
City Press
stepped out of
the Magistrates
Courtroom to
try to look
into the case.
Going back in
10 minutes
later it was
all over - Mr
Ansa still in
a flannel
shirt was
being
released. In
the front
Judge
Gorenstein was
wheeling out a
case, to Judge
Engelmayer.
For this one,
the spelling
was given: US
v. Michael
Massaro. Judge
Gorenstein
asked the
after-hours
Court Security
Officer if he
knew how to
turn off the
lights,
because he and
his Deputy
were leaving.
Lights Out.
O
***
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