| Trevor
Milton Appealed Citing Inner City Press
Interviews Now Sentencing Pushed to June
21
Review,
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Exclusive Interviews by Matthew Russell
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SDNY
Courthouse, Jan 23 – In
September and October 2022 Trevor
Milton, founder of Nikola Motor was put
on trial for fraudulent claims about
NKLA's hydrogen trucks.
On Friday,
October 14, Milton was found guilty on
three of four counts.
Published hours after the verdict was a
book
by Matthew Russell Lee, who live tweeted
and reported on the trial daily, and put
questions to Milton and his lawyers in
Foley Square outside.
On
December 14, Milton filed requesting a
new trial - citing InnerCityPress.com
"Book Interviews" published on October
16 and 17, 2022, see Milton's filing on
DocumentCloud here.
On January
11, 2023, the US Attorney's Office wrote
in, proposing that sentencing be in
early May. Photo of letter here.
Milton's Mukasey, citing a February 25
wedding, wants late spring of early
summer.
On January
20, after hours, the US Attorney's
Office filed its response, including
that "he post-verdict juror comments
reveal that the jurors misunderstood the
meaning of the notion of “intent to
harm” and incorrectly added an
additional burden to the Government—a
misunderstanding invited by the
defendant’s summation in repeated
general reference to harm and lack of
harm equating to lack of guilt. As the
quotes of the post-verdict juror
commentary selected by the defendant
suggest, the jurors applied a common
sense, but incorrect, understanding to
the notion of “harm” in this
case." Full filing on Patreon here.
On January
23, Judge Ramos pushed Milton's
sentencing back to June 21: "ORDER
granting [261] LETTER MOTION request a
revised post-trial briefing schedule and
adjournment of sentencing. The revised
post-trial briefing schedule is
approved. Sentencing is adjourned to
June 21, 2023 at 10 a.m. The Clerk of
the Court is respectfully directed to
terminate the motions, docs. 262 and
263. (Signed by Judge Edgardo Ramos on
1/23/2023)."
After
Milton's December 14 filing, Inner City
Press reached out to the juror about
Milton's team's claims. She scoffed,
"It’s an old Facebook post from 2017
like when Bernie ran And it was a repost
from AOC not even my words Trevor wasn’t
even on the radar then. And I liked Elon
until he bought Twitter Taxing the rich
isn’t the same as fraud Which I think
makes sense anyways The funny thing is.
I really don’t use social media. Like
yeah my Facebook is active and Twitter
and instagram but I don’t actively use
them. I’ll never delete my Facebook
because if my family needs me that’s how
they reach me."
So how
much change does Milton's appeal on this
have?
The
Monday after the Friday verdict, Inner
City Press conducted a second interview,
after a first, screen shots on Patreon here
- and full version of 2d interview here
and below.
On
November 3, Milton's lawyer wrote to
Judge Ramos asking for an extra month to
file post-trial motions, saying he wants
to review and analyze post-trial
interviews of jurors: "
Dear Judge Ramos: This
letter is respectfully submitted on
behalf of defendant Trevor Milton to
request a 30 day extension of time to
file post-trial motions under Fed. R.
Cr. P. 29 and Rule 33. At present, the
motions are due on November 14, 2022.
The additional 30 days would make the
new submission date December 14, 2022.
The extra time sought is necessary for
two primary reasons. First, as the Court
is aware, the trial record in this
matter is extensive. Second, it has come
to our attention that after the verdict,
several jurors made comments and
statements to the media and/or online
concerning the trial and the
deliberations. The defense believes
these comments must be carefully
reviewed and analyzed in connection with
the post-trial motions. The government
consents to this requested extension of
time, although the abovementioned
reasons for the request are solely those
of the defense."
On
November 4, without commenting of
the relevance of jury interviews
to the post-trial motions, Judge
Ramos granted the 30 day
extension: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT
[250] LETTER MOTION addressed
to Judge Edgardo Ramos from
Marc L. Mukasey dated November
3, 2022 re: extension of time
to file Rules 29 and 33
motions...ENDORSEMENT...The
request for an initial, 30
day, extension of time to file
post-trial motions under
Fed.R.Crim.P.29 and 33 is
granted. SO ORDERED. (Signed
by Judge Edgardo Ramos on
11/4/22)."
On
December 14, three new lawyers filed
notices of appearance for Milton. They
filed a Motion for a New Trial and for
acquittal on Count 3." The claims
include that the jury instructions were
unclear, that Juror 6 has "animosity
toward corporate executives, and that
the US failed to prove the "obtaining
money or property" element of Count
Three. Documents to follow. Watch this
site.
Interviews:
Juror #9, "V" - "Sure, Overall the
entire trial was very dense in terms of
information I myself I estimate took at
least 50 pages of notes front and back.
While Mr. Milton may not have liked the
result he should know that he did in
fact receive a completely fair trial in
my opinion. Personally in my notes I did
have to write "credibility?" and
ultimately did not use two witnesses
testimony in my deliberation reasoning
due to the fact I just couldn't find
them credible....
...
Roughly for the first hour and a half
absolutely no decision was made at all
on any counts. Personally it began to
feel like we may have been a hung jury.
"This is
when we began to request a few pieces of
evidence we did not take any notes on
that we needed to break the ice. Once we
received those aids deliberations became
smoother albeit there were moments of
silence here and there as we
contemplated what a juror may have said
or looked for a piece of evidence that
contradicted or further supported what
was said.
"That
being said on Count 2 that I've seen
many questions on after looking up to
see what the public thought was he was
close to being convicted he reached 2/3
requirements and we began discussing the
third it was then that I re-read the
charge and noticed that while similar to
count 1 count 2 had to meet ALL
requirements.
"When
asking if anyone noticed any evidence to
suggest the government had met this
criteria we found they fell
short. In regards to count
four I just wanted to mention we in fact
did not even like Mr. Hicks and
personally I believe he is greedy, but
examining the law Trevor was still in
fact guilty." Full interview on Patreon
here.
The case
is US v. Milton, 21-cr-478 (Ramos)
Watch this site.
Lee was each day in the courtroom
of U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge Edgardo
Ramos, and venturing farther afield to
investigate leads exclusively give to
him and Inner City Press and by Nikola
whistleblowers.
As the trial wound down, Inner City
Press published descriptions of
documented destroyed within Nikola, and
guilty knowledge by officials still at
the company.
Material from those whistleblowers, the
trial and even some more speculative and
literary excursions featuring recurring
characters Kurt Wheelock and Michael
Randall Long, featured in the Ghislaine
Maxwell book "Maximum Maxwell" as noted
by New York Magazine, here,
made its way at the speed of the
Internet into the new book
"Hydrogen
Heist: The Trial of Nikola's Trevor
Milton: On Fraud, Guilty of 3 of 4
Counts; From Musk and Tesla Wannabe to
Convict in SDNY, by Matthew Russell Lee
E-book here;
paperbook here
This review will leave it to
others to find over-reaches and typos.
For his reporting, Lee was banned
from the United Nations in 2018 by SG
Antonio Guterres, whose Media
Accrediation chief Melissa Fleming has
ignored appeals from a UN Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of
Expression and, pro bono, the law firm
of Quinn
Emanuel.
One might surmise that history leads to
some of the book's (over?)
identification with the
defendant.
A full scope instantaneous view
of and taking off from trials like US v.
Trevor Milton seems to be Inner City
Press' project
here.
And here
it is.
***
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