| SDNY Grand Jury Probe of
2017-20 Had Balde Dismissal Nixed Now Not
Guilty at SDNY Trial
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 13 – On a legal call
designed to give defense
counsel information about
White Plains grand juries in
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York, live tweeted by Inner
City Press, it emerged that a
grand jury has "met" in the
SDNY in Manhattan in the last
week.
Apparently, some
grand jurors participated by
video.
This seems
noteworthy, given for example
that in March allowing a
single juror in the US v. Ali
Sadr Hashemi Nejad trial to
deliberate by video required
the defendant's consent. Why
not this? Below is the blow by
blow, then background on one
of the underlying cases, US v.
Balde (there is also US v. Schulte,
and other
cases).
On August
27, in the lead Balde case,
"Defendant did not receive the
expected production from the
Jury Administrator."
On May 17,
2021, Judge Failla held a
proceeding in Balde, and Inner
City Press covered it. It was
to read out loud her decision,
which was to deny Balde's
motion to dismiss back on the
use of the White Plains grand
jury.
She called it a
serious question, but noted
for example a decision from
the Northern District of New
York, that it was OK to move a
trial for a crime in Syracuse
to less diverse Utica.
She said there is
no right to a grand jury in
the division of the SDNY a
crime in committed in, and
that COVID meant these was no
prosecutorial gamesmanship.
She mentioned Shulte,
Tagliaferro and other cases.
On January 26,
2022, with one of Balde's
Federal Defenders appointed as
an SDNY Magistrate Judge so
another another the case, the
Federal Defenders filed
motions in limine to, among
other things, preclude the US
from using emails and calls
Balde made and sent from jail,
citing spousal privilege and
the presumption of
innocence.
On February
17 Judge Failla held another
proceeding, and Inner City
Press again covered it. Judge
Failla said she was focused on
the case, as the (SEC) trial
she had been presiding over
had and the day before (Inner
City Press covered that too, here.).
Judge Failla said this US v.
Balde case is on.
But: "Defendant's
motion for a mistrial is
GRANTED; trial is concluded
and jury dismissed. By
2/28/2022, the parties shall
submit a joint letter with a
proposed briefing schedule."
On March 4, this:
"ORDER as to Souleymane Balde:
The Clerk's Office has
notified the Court that this
case has been placed on the
jury trial list for May 17,
2022. The case is second on
the list for jury trials for
that day, so it is likely that
the case will receive a jury
panel on that date. The case
must therefore be trial-ready
for that date. (Ready for
Trial by 5/17/2022) (Signed by
Judge Katherine Polk Failla on
3/4/2022)."
On March 7, the
Federal Defenders asked Judge
Failla to dismiss the case,
noting prosecutors behavior
leading to the mistrial and
the 23 months already served
by Balde.
On April 20,
Judge Failla issued an oral
ruling, and Inner City Press
called in to hear it. Balde's
motion to dismiss the
indictment was denied,
although Judge Failla did say
that the US Attorney's Office
opening had gone close to the
line of her rulings on motions
in limine. She acknowledged
the discrepancies between
witness Ayman Hamad's state
and now Federal testimony but
said it did not meet the high
burden for dismissing an
indictment.
In the run-up,
Balde's Federal Defenders made
a motion to dismiss, citing
the Second Amendment and (as
other defendants Inner City
Press has reported on have)
NYS Rifle & Pistol Ass'n,
inc. v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111
(2020).
On December 19
Judge Failla held a
proceeding, which Inner City
Press covered, in which she
reviewed the arguments,
including another courts
consideration of Bruen and
whom the Second Amendment
applies to. Citing Balde's
immigration (non) status, and
keeping the decision narrow,
Judge Failla denied the motion
to dismiss.
On January 13,
2023, after the trial held in
Courtroom 318 (Inner City
Press was in and out, amid the
ongoing Saipov death penalty
trial), the jury found Balde
NOT GUILTY after some
questions about parole and
supervision. Judge Failla
replied it was a "dispute
question of fact that you are
being asked to decide." And
they did: Not Guilty.
The case
is US v. Balde, 20-cr-281
(Failla).
***
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