| US
Urges 20 Years for Honduras Cop Zelaya
Romero Who Led Killing of Journalist
Barrow
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Song Filing
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 26 – 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.
Inner City Press live tweeted
it, morning here
and then the afternoon, about
the video(s), here
and below. Geovanny
Fuentes was found guilty, and
his lawyer told Inner City
Press he thinks JOH will be or
has already been indicted.
Now on
April 26, for the sentencing
of Honduras police officer
Ludwig Criss Zelaya Romero,
the US has filed a sentencing
memo asking for imprisonment
of 235 to 293 months. The US
the Leonel Rivera "tasked the
defendant will murdering a
journalist who had been
critical of Leonel. As a
result, a journalist named
Anibal Barrow - though not the
intended target - was
murdered." The sentencing is
in May. Watch this site.
Also on
March 16, the US Attorney's
Office filed its sentencing
memo for JOH's brother Tony
Hernandez, previously
convicted in a jury trial also
covered by Inner City Press.
The US is asking for life in
prison, and money.
Full
memo on
Patreon here.
Now on
March 26, Tony Hernandez has
countered with a request for
the minimum of 40 years, with
a submission citing brothers
but NOT Juan Orlando
Hernandez. The word Orlando
does not appear in the filing,
on Patreon here,
which says: "His brother, Juan
Arnaldo Hernandez Espinoza,
states, “Family and friends
are able to attest to the fact
that Juan Antonio is not or
has ever been a problem to
neither society nor a criminal
who has infringed the law in
any way, including those of
your country and his own.
Therefore, your Honor, aware
that serving justice is the
mission of the court, is that
write to you to plead MERCY
for Juan Antonio when issuing
his sentence so that the just
rigor of the law becomes
evident in the undertaking of
the difficult task of
administering justice.”
A question still:
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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