| In SDNY Middle Aged Murder
For Hire Defendant Ramirez Denied Bail By
Judge Castel
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
July 26 – While many even most
cases in the Magistrates Court
of the
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York are
sealed, on
June 13 SDNY US
Attorney Geoffrey
L. Berman
announced the
arrest and
presentment of
two middle
aged men for
murder for hire, and
said they had
already been
presented in
the Magistrates
Court.
But even an
hour later,
the case file
or docket for
19-cr-395 said
"This case is
under seal." Inner
City Press asked,
as to this and
other murky
Mag Court
cases, Why?
Now on July 26
Ramon
Ramirez has
been denied
bail by
District Judge
P. Kevin
Castel.
Ramirez'
lawyer Matthew
J. Kluger
argued that most of
the case
against his
client is a cooperating
witness
with, he said,
two gun
charges against him in
the SDNY and a
VOSR. But
Assistant US
Attorney Celia V. Cohen said
Ramirez gave a
Mirandized
statement in
which he
admitted to discussing
putting
the man his
wife was
having an affair with
into a wheelchair,
and to paying
$2000.
Judge
Castel said
that with
Ramirez facing up
to ten years
in prison and
possible
deportation as
a non-citizen,
he is a
risk to flee,
and also a
danger not
only to the man who had
the affair
with his wife
but also any
possible
witnesses
against him. Judge Castel
said he could
not come up
with any conditions
to assure
return to
court and the
safety of the
community. The
case is US
v. Ramirez,
19-cr-395
(Castel).
On
June 19 Inner
City Press
went to cover
the
arraignment of
the two men,
who each with
a CJA lawyer.
Judge Castel
asked, Is this
death
eligible?
There
was a silence.
Finally
Judge
Castel was
told, the
murder didn't
happen. He nodded,
adding
that there was
no "learned
counsel" requirement
triggered.
Back on
June 13
Inner City
Press asked, Why
did a second
man help the
husband, Ramon
Ramirez, to try
to hire
another man to
kill the man
they though
was sleeping
with the first
man's wife?
On July 22 Ramon Ramirez'
lawyer
Matthew J. Kluger
of 888 Grand
Concourse in
The Bronx
petitioned
Judge Castel
to let him
client out on
$250,000 bond.
Ramirez came
from Nicaragua in
1996 and does
not have a
passport now -
but has an
HVAC business, E and
R
Refrigeration
Services.
The
witness
against him,
unnamed,
is said by
Kluger to have
a "well documented
history of
committing
violent and dishonest
acts." How
will Judge
Castel deal
with this? It
starts at
11:30 am on
July 26. Inner
City Press
hopes to have
the beginning
of the
proceeding,
and will catch up
with the end.
Watch this
site.
The
announcement
said,
"Geoffrey S.
Berman, United
States
Attorney for
the Southern
District of
New York, and William
F. Sweeney
Jr., Assistant
Director-in-Charge
of the New
York Office of
the Federal Bureau
of
Investigation
(“FBI”),
announced the
unsealing of a
federal
indictment
charging VANCE
COLLINS, a/k/a
“Big AK,” 50,
and RAMON
RAMIREZ, a/k/a
“Obendy,” 48,
with hiring
a hitman to
murder an
individual
believed to be
having an
affair with
RAMIREZ’s
wife."
In the
courtroom
gallery on
June 19, other
than Inner
City Press,
there was only
a couple who
stood up when
the arraignment
was over. Assistant
US Attorney
Allison Nichols
asked to
exclude time under
the Speedy
Trial Act and
Judge
Castel agreed.
He told Vance
Collins that
he had known
his CJA lawyer
Gerald J.
DiChiara for
years and
asked, Do you
have any questions for
me?
No, Your
Honor, Vance
Collins said.
The two men
were led back
into custody,
but not before
Ramirez'
lawyer Matt
Kluger said he
might make an
application
for bail.
Judge Castel said
to make the
application to
him, not the
Magistrates
Court.
Inner
City Press
will follow
this.
***
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