| On
Fentanyl Death
in Bronx
Daycare
Herrera Garcia
Pled Now No
CJA On
Saturday
Slammed
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 13 – Following the death
of a one-year old baby by
fentanyl, on September 19,
2023 the US Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
charged Grei Mendez and
Carlisto Acevedo Brito.
On September 25,
with no notice and Inner City
Press initially the only
person in the courtroom
gallery, the third man was
brought in: Renny Antonio
Parra Paredes. Inner City
Press live tweeted, thread
On January 23,
Paredes' lawyer argued, and
lost, before the assigned
District Judge Jed S. Rakoff:
"Minute Entry for proceedings
held before Judge Jed S.
Rakoff: Oral Argument as to
Felix Herrera Garcia, Grei
Mendez, Carlisto Acevedo
Brito, Renny Antonio Parra
Paredes held on 1/23/2024. The
trial date is adjourned to
6/10/2024
On February 12,
Inner City Press went to a
possible change of counsel
hearing on lead defendant
Felix Herrera Garcia - but
soon Judge Rakoff asked
everyone but Herrera Garcia
and his still counsel to leave
the courtroom, "even my
favorite reporter."
On June 10, the
day of jury selection on
Herrera Garcia, his trial was
canceled; he pled guilty.
On June 13, Judge
Rakoff issued a blistering
order chiding Federal
Defenders and the US
Attorney's Office, and
recommending that CJA counsel
henceforth be available on
Saturdays: "OPINION as to Grei
Mendez: While the Court is
extremely disappointed with
the conduct of the Federal
Defenders and the Government
in this case, it also
recognizes the role that this
District's standing policy of
not requiring CJA counsel to
be on call on Saturdays had in
precipitating the events of
September 23, 2023. If this
District, instead, had a
standing policy that provided
for CJA counsel to at least be
on call on Saturdays, this
entire situation would never
have occurred. Accordingly,
the Court has recommended to
the relevant committee of this
Court that it revise this
policy so as to ensure that
indigent defendants always
have immediate access to
conflict-free counsel and
permanently prevent the
misconduct that occurred here
from happening again in the
future. (Signed by Judge Jed
S. Rakoff on 6/13/2024)."
Back on March 21,
Grei Mendez was brought into
the Magistrates Court to be
arraigned on a superseding
indictment. Inner City Press
was there, thread
the Court severed
Ms. Mendez from the jury trial
of her co-defendant set to
proceed on June 10, 2024, and
a new trial will be calendared
in her case."
More on Substack
here
The case is US v.
Herrera Garcia et al.,
23-cr-504 (Rakoff)
Watch this site.
***
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