| Guilty Verdicts in
Racketeering Trial Involving 2
Murders and Social Media in
Jails
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Sept 20 – Carlos Ramirez faces
a racketeering conspiracy
trial to start September 9,
2024. In late March his
Criminal Justice Act lawyer
wrote in ex parte to the
judge, disclosing a possible
conflict of interest and
arguing it should not bar him
from the case and trial.
U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Jesse M. Furman, to his
credit, made the letter
public, with some redactions.
Previously, Judge
Furman granted an application
by Inner City Press to unseal
defendant Michael Avenatti's
CJA financial affidavit (while
suggesting the issue should be
systematized at an
administrative level - it has
not been. In the recent
Honduras narcotics case and
trial, one defendant's
affidavit was unsealed on
Inner City Press' motion,
while another such motion
still sits unruled upon).
In this
case, Ramirez' counsel at some
point reached out to
co-defendant Miguel Genoa's
CJA lawyer, which whom he had
worked on US v. Alexei Saab (a
Hezbollah trial Inner City
Press covered).
She sought advice
on - a topic that remains
redacted. But at least the
rest of the letter is now
public.
On August 30
Judge Furman denied Ramirez'
motion to depose "an unnamed
witness who was previously
deported from the US" who he
said would testify that the
alleged murder of Jordanny
Correa "was not gang related
by related to a personal
dispute between Carlos Ramirez
and others." No deposition,
and no testimony via CCTV.
On September 5,
in Courtroom 318 where the
trial will be held, Judge
Furman ruled on motions in
limine. Inner City Press was
there. Judge Furman inquired
into social media account(s)
in jail, and admitted evidence
that is prejudicial but not
unfairly so.
On September 16,
with cooperating witness
Garcia on the stand, the
defense lawyer asking about
the witness' role in a 2017
shooting. After excusing the
witness, in a green prison
jumpsuit, Judge Furman told
the jurors to expect
summations Thursday or Friday,
and to stay later.
Late on September
20, the jury returned guilty
verdicts on all three counts.
The case
is US v. Ramirez,
20-cr-22 (Furman)
***
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