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Honduras Trial Jury Hears DEA Agent On
Casa JOH Reaction To US Filings Exhibits
Due
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Song Filing
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 17 – Honduras President
Juan Orlando Hernandez took a
briefcase of cash and said he
would stuff drugs up the noses
of the gringos, a jury was
told on March 16, 2020. The
audio call-in line, at the
demand of the prosecutors was
cut off. But Inner City Press
live tweeted it, morning here
and then the afternoon, about
the video(s), here.
Now on
March 17, after the
agricultural engineer
Witness-2, DEA Agent Gonzalez,
about his interview of
Fuentes, and then reaction
from the Casa Presidencial in
Honduras in real time to
exhibits going into PACER in
the USA. Inner City Press live
tweeted it here:
it's on to the
next (Government) witness:
Special Agent Sandalio
Gonzalez. Inner City
Press: will the audio call-in
line be turned back on?
Judge
Castel: How long will this
witness be? AUSA: Two and a
half hours. Judge Castel: I
think it will be shorter. Get
at it. AUSA: Are you in the
bilateral investigations unit?
Agent Gonzalez: Yes. On
Colombia, Honduras and other
countries.
AUSA: On
March 1, 2020 did you arrest
Geovanny Fuentes and interview
him? Agent Gonzalez: Yes. And
it was video taped. It's on
this disk.
AUSA: What is
this?
Agent Gonzalez:
Translation of the video
clips. AUSA: Please play it.
[Post-arrest interview is in
Spanish.. and "sin avogado"
While its introduction is
being played, Geovanny Fuentes
is sitting at the defense
table looking at his hands]
AUSA: What was
that, Agent Gonzalez? Agent
Gonzalez: The advice of rights
form that the defendant
Geovanny Daniel Fuentes
signed. AUSA: And who is this,
in the photo? Agent Gonzalez:
Melvin Sanders a/k/a Metro.
Video: Defendant: Lo mataron.
On video,
Geovanny Fuentes: Maybe yo lo
conozco porque nacio en el
barrio. Agent Gonzalez: Conoci
a los Cachiros? Fuentes: Si.
Pero sin negocios ilicitos...
Agent Gonzalez: Usted conozco
Ganadero? Fuentes: Fuerte en
arroz. Si trabaje con ellos,
como joven.
On video:
Fuentes: Tomamos cafe. Jamas
tema de efectivo. Agent
Gonzalez: Cuando encontraste
los Cachiros? Fuentes: Yo
conozco a Javier por medio de
Melvin. Agent Gonzalez: Y Leo?
Fuentes: Tambien por medio de
Melvin... En el disco de Metro
en Chaloma, no recuerdo
AUSA: Let's turn
to the texts with Comanche.
How does defendant respond?
Agent Gonzalez: He says, the
son was nailed... AUSA:
Next one, What does Comanche
say? Agent Gonzalez: Lawyer of
los Valles was killed... Money
is nice... [Now, about
the major of Chaloma]
Video: Fuentes:
Juan Orlando Hernandez si
llego, de campana, buscando
apoyo. Agent Gonzalez:
Did you contribute to JOH?
Fuentes: No, never... Don Fuad
did, but not me. Agent
Gonzalez: Did you give money
to Don Fuad to contribute?
Fuentes: No.
Fuentes: Yo
conozco el policia Ramon
Martinez, viaje con el a
Orlando.... y otro,
Comisionado Martinez...
Agent Gonzalez: And Avila
Mesa?
Fuentes: No lo
conozco. Judge Castel:
Ladies and gentlemen, we'll
take our mid afternoon break.
With jury out,
Judge Castel asks defense, is
it fair to say if you put on a
case it will be one or two
witnesses? Answer: Yes. Judge
Castel: So the jury may get
the case at the end of the day
on Monday? AUSA: That sounds
fine. Defense: OK.
Update: After
noting that the call-in line
was still off, after
Witness-2, it's back on. Also
note: many many judges are
leaving call-in lines on. All
should. Judge Castel telling
jury about it running,
evidence, until Monday.
AUSA offers
Exhibit, organizational chart
of defendants brought to the
SDNY. Judge Castel: This is a
demonstrative exhibit.
AUSA: Diaz Morales el Rojo, he
was brought here, right?
To Southern District of
New York?
Judge Castel defines the SDNY
counties for jury
AUSA: Were you
involved in, and do you track,
the case against Tony
Hernandez? Agent Gonzalez:
Yes. AUSA: We offer Government
Exhibit 12. Defense:
Objection. And so,
another sidebar
discussion.
Agent
Gonzalez has just confirmed
that CC-1 is (well, was)
Melvin Sanders a/k/a Metro
Agent
Gonzalez, reading: "CC-4 is
Juancho, Juan Orlando
Hernandez."
AUSA: Has
the defendant sent emails from
the MCC prison? Agent
Gonzalez: Yes. Stipulation:
MCC is Facility-1, emails of
Dec 26 and Dec 27 and Dec 28,
2020 in MCC
Agent
Gonzalez, reading: We need
info about the mechanic from
Guatemala who showed up half
buried in Chaloma... [then]
Christian, on Monday I want
confirmation if you speak with
Martinez and Comanche.
It seems from
these exhibits Geovanny
Fuentes was emailing his sons,
on the Bureau of Prisons'
email system, to talk about
getting help (to cover up)
from the Attorney General of
Honduras.
At to Tony
Hernandez, also on March 16,
"the Government respectfully
submits that the Court
should impose a sentence of
life imprisonment and order
the defendant to forfeit
$138.5 million, return
all funds disbursed pursuant
to the Criminal Justice Act
(“CJA”), and pay a $10 million
fine." Full memo on Patreon here.
A question now:
Does the right to access to
Federal court proceedings
extend to listen-only
telephone lines, in the time
of COVID and beyond? Should
it?
The
question has been further
raised in the ongoing Honduras
narco-trafficking case US v.
Geovanny Fuentes, which Inner
City Press has been covering
in-person in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York, where it
is "in-house press."
On
the morning of March 13, Inner
City Press filed a challenge
to the cut-off of audio access
to the US v. Fuentes trial,
citing the First Amendment,
COVID and real-world politics,
see here
and below.
Late on
the evening of March 14, the
US Attorney's Office filed a
three page letter into the
docket, specifically arguing
the the call-in line be
eliminated for two entire
Witnesses and everything they
say. US Attorney's Office's
letter, now uploaded on Inner
City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
Inner City
Press has immediately
responded in opposition, here,
stating among other things
that "the US Attorney's Office
seeks to specifically ban
public access to two of their
Witnesses, while saying that a
transcript would be available
at some unspecified date
afterwards. Given that the
Office has yet to unseal
improperly redacted portions
of their filings, there is
little reason to have
confidence in the speed of
transcription, or that such
transcripts would not be too
expensive for the public or
media.
Inner City Press
after its first filing waited
nine hours, including this song,
here, to report about
it. Full first letter on Inner
City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
Inner City
Press itself obeys all
existing rules and is grateful
for the additional access as
in-house media (particularly
since it is banned
from covering the UN, which
now Constitutional rights such
as the First Amendment exist).
But others
have rights too - including
journalists and regular
citizens of Honduras. If the
SDNY prosecutors are going to
exercises essentially
universal jurisdiction for any
wire transfer that passes
through lower Manhattan, how
ever briefly, they should not
oppose access to their trials
by those impacted, for better
and worse.
Judge Castel is a
good judge, in Inner City
Press' experience. When
petitioned he has ordered the
unsealing of certain court
documents, in a North Korea crypto-currency
conference case and the tech /
child sex sentencing
of Peter Bright former of
ArsTechnica, both of which
Inner City Press covered and requested.
And Judge Castel is certainly
in the mainstream in his March
12 psoition. But should it be
rethought? Is there a right?
Should there be? Watch this
site.
The case is US v. Diaz, 15-cr-379
(Castel).
***
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