| Bronx
Man Charged
With Robbing
Bodega Had
Release
Reversed Now
IDd on Video
in Closing
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY COURT
Exclusive, Oct 9 –
The
gun-point
robbery of a
deli / bodega
on East 180th
Street in The
Bronx gave
rise to a
lengthy bail
hearing on
February 3,
2023 before
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York
Magistrate
Judge Jennifer
E. Willis.
Inner
City Press was
there until
the 7:30 pm
end, when an
order to
release the
defendant once
he obtains the
signatures of
three
co-signers on
a $75,000
personal
recognizance
bond.
NYPD Detective
Matthew
Lombardo sat
next to
Assistant US
Attorney
Brandon
Thompson, who
began by
saying that
release to the
apartment
right across
180th Street,
where the
defendant had
been living,
would not be
acceptable.
He
added that
residence
further away
might be
acceptable to
the US
Attorney's
Office.
Beyond the
robbery of the
180th Street
store, which
was caught on
video,
Thompson
referred to
previous armed
robberies
which the
Bronx District
Attorney had
charged and
then dismissed
- due, he
said, to
witnesses
being too
afraid to
testify.
Judge Willis
said this
information
could not be
relied on, and
that on the
particular
offense
conduct in the
complaint, the
defendant
could be
released but
must stay at
least ten
blocks away
from the
bodega.
More detail
and analysis
on Substack here
On
February 7,
the release on
bond order was
reversed by
District Judge
Paul G.
Gardephe.
On
March 1, James
Kelly's case
was indicted
and wheeled
out to Judge
Gregory H.
Woods.
On July
5, James
Kelly appeared
again in
front of Judge
Woods, to change
lawyers for
the second
time. Inner
City Press was
there. Thread:
Judge
Woods tells
Kelly to
confer with
counsel before
speaking in
court.
But
Kelly is
trying to fire
his 2d CJA
lawyer: he
confers with
the CJA on
duty, with the
white noise
turned up. He
says he does
not want to
talk with his
current
appointed
lawyer
Update:
Judge grants
James Kelly's
request to
fire current
appointed
lawyer and
take CJA on
duty - who
asks for delay
to develop
relationship,
&
vacation.
Kelly:
I'm charged
with Hobbs Act
robbery - but
with case was
dismissed.
Judge
Woods: I
haven't seen
the discovery.
Neither
have we.
On November
9, 2023,
Kelly's lawyer
wrote in about
the trial scheduled
for
January 29,
2024,
proposing motions
due November
27 and that "the
parties
continue to work
toward a
pretrial
resolution of
this matter."
Jump cut
to February
28, 2024 when
in advance of
what is for now
a March 11
trial the US
Attorney's
Office wrote
in arguing
to
preclude
evidence of
prior
dismissals,
adding that
"the 48th
Precinct is
not on trial."
On
March 1, Judge
Woods
scheduled a
March 7 Daubert
(expert
witness)
hearing on
proposed
testimony of
Andrew
Petersohn of
DBM Engineering.
On March
11, the day of
trial, James
Kelly "refused
to appear for the
jury trial."
Judge
Woods urged
prosecution
and defense to
confer about
how to
evaluate the
defendant's competency.
On April 24 the
US Attorney's
Office wrote
in to say that
Kelly had
refused to
meet with Dr.
Cheryl
Paradis, on
April 11,
April 21 and
April 23. They
requested "a
conference
this week or
next week, so
that the Court
can advise
the defendant
of the
competency
evaluation
that has been
ordered."
He was
found
competent, and
was put
on trial in
October 2024.
On
October 9 he
was going to
testify; Judge
Woods told him
that would
require him to
observe
decorum (which
he
asked for a
definition
of).
Ultimately he
did not testify.
As the
AUSA delivered
his closing
argument
complete with
video of the
two robberies,
and clothing
changing in
the stairs of
a building on
East 180th
Street in The
Bronx, the judge
the AUSA clerked
for was in the
gallery, as
were other
AUSAs.
The
case is US v.
Kelly,
23-cr-113
(Woods)
***
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