| Fentanyl
Death Trial of Ortega Triggers US Bid to
Unseal CJA Affidavit Citing Press Win
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY COURTROOM
EXCLUSIVE, Jan 19 - 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.
The defendant's
opening argument on January 19
triggered a US Attorney's
Office request for a curative
instruction - and their
request to unseal Ortega's CJA
affidavit, citing Inner City
Press' win in US v. Avenatti,
550 F. Supp. 3d 36 (SDNY
2021). Meanwhile the same
Office is consenting by taking
no position to the secrecy of
Sam Bankman-Fried's
co-signers. Watch this site.
Back 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.
On January 16,
one of Ortega's lawyers filed
a memo alleging, with
exhibits, that Kaylen "Rainer
who is now a government
cooperator... who is HIV
positive prostitutes himself
with inmates at the MDC
without the knowledge of the
inmates of Rainey's HIV
status" and "sells fentanyl
laced marijuana and synthetic
heroin at the MDC." The
allegation is that the US
Attorney's Office has never
looked into this, or spoken
with letter-writer Jonathan
DeLaura - who has been
subpoenaed.
On January 17,
after a barely redacted copy
of the memo and letter(s) went
into the docket, the US
Attorney's Office filed
opposition to DeLaura
testifying, and seeking to
exclude from cross examination
of Rainer any reference to the
allegations he spreads HIV in
the MDC, calling it
"inflammatory."
On January 18,
while jury selection was
proceeding in Courtroom 110,
Billy Ortega's lawyer put in
another letter, that "I met
with Jonathan DeLaura at the
MDC today. DeLaura states that
he first met Rainey at the MDC
in Brooklyn in 12/2021, or
1/2022, and thereafter spoke
with Rainey about the events
continued in DeLaura's letter,
or observed those events until
8/2022, a period of 8 months."
So what if anthing will he be
allowed to testify about?
The case is US v.
Ortega, et al., 22-cr-91
(Abrams)
***
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