| Etoty
Charged With False Passport Application
Voted in NY After SDNY Mistrial, Now Delay
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Sept 17 – Paulette Etoty
applied for a U.S. passport,
saying she was born in St.
Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
But it seems she's from
Nigeria.
Now a trial
approaches on July 13 before
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.
Inner City
Press which has filed with
Judge Hellerstein for
unsealing of judicial
documents, is following the
case.
It was in
April 2018 that Etoty applied,
in New York. She asked for
more time in May 2018. But in
June 2013 she had been found
by an Immigration Judge to be
a native and citizen of
Nigeria, and ordered
removed.
Federal
Defenders, representing Etoty,
now argue to preclude the
government's witness from
testifying that Ms. Etoty has
a Nigerian accent - and that
Etoty voted in New York in
2016.
On July 7,
the US Attorney's Office
applied for permission to add
a third charge, false
statement for SSI. But after
Federal Defenders' opposition,
Judge Hellerstein denied the
government saying an
adjournment would burden the
court and prejudice Etoty's
speed trial rights.
On July 12,
stipulations were filed, along
with transcripts of
conversations between Paulette
Etoty and Renee Etoty, the
former saying, "I think I have
something to do with Nigeria,
but I don't think I'm born in
Nigeria. I don't even know
where I'm from to be honest."
On July 21, the
jury returned with notes that
it could not reach a decision.
Etoty's Federal Defenders,
their first motion for a
mistrial denied, proposed
their own Allen charge.
Then this:
"Minute Entry for proceedings
held before Judge Alvin K.
Hellerstein: Jury Trial as to
Paulette Etoty held on
7/22/2021. Trial cont'd. Jury
unable to come to a unanimous
decision; Motion for mistrial
is granted; Trial completed."
On August 3, a
superseding indictment by the
grand jury on three counts:
False Statement in Application
for Passport; False Statement
in Voter Registration; and
False Statements."
And now on
September 17, the case pushed
back into 2022: "The pretrial
conference previously
scheduled for September 23,
2021 is hereby adjourned and
time is excluded until January
14, 2022. The parties are
hereby ordered to appear for a
pretrial conference on January
14, 2022, at 12:00 p.m."
The case is US v.
Etoty, 20-cr-187 (Hellerstein)
***
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