| Ortega
Facing Trial For Fentanyl Laced Cocaine
May Get Kids & Child Support Deficit
Excluded
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
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Vlog
SDNY COURTROOM
EXCLUSIVE, Jan 13 - In
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York on December 16, 2022
Billy Ortega was brought in by
US Marshals and pleaded not
guilty to his role in the
death by fentanyl laced
cocaine of
Julia
Ghahramani,
26, a
first-year
lawyer at Akin
Gump, Ross
Mtangi, 40, a
trading
executive at
Credit Suisse
Group AG,
and Amanda Scher, 36, a social
worker.
There were
four family members in the
gallery, where Inner City
Press was the only media.
District Judge Ronnie Abrams
asked about recently provided
discovery, in advance of the
trial scheduled for January
18. The Assistant US Attorney
replied that some phones had
only recently been accessed;
there are many text messages
on them. Already there's
this:
“Question
first…is it the same as it was
Sunday? Because that was not
good lol, had to get rid of
it,” Scher texted.
Ortega texted her
back, “No new … Batch.”
Scher then
replied, “Def
better.”
Ortega wrote
back, “Hey try not to do too
much because it’s really
strong. Hey boss lady you
heard Lol."
Arrangements were
made to copy the material onto
external hard drives,
including for delivery to
Ortega in custody.
On January 13,
Judge Abrams held the final
pre-trial conference in
Courtroom 110 where the trial
will be. Inner City Press was
there. Judge Abrams ruled on a
number of motions in limine,
asking the prosecution why
they couldn't redact
information about Ortega being
behind on child support from
one of their exhibits; she
asked the defense to consider,
before trial, who Ortega
allegedly being a family man
would be relevant and not an
invitation to nullification,
like a mention of the
sentenced - 25 years mandatory
- that he faces.
The trial starts
January 18.
The case is US v.
Ortega, et al., 22-cr-91
(Abrams)
***
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