| Guilty Verdict in
NYCHA Bribery 2d Trial of
Hector Colon After Juror Did
Own Research
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Nov 22 – For days Inner City
Press had heard from its
sources there would be a
"takedown" on February 6, each
SDNY Magistrate Judge would
handle seven to 10 defendants.
Arrests happen at
6 am. So at 5:55 am Inner City
Press tweeted it, first to X
subscribers with the spoiler
alert: the expectation was
that each of the current or
former NYCHA employees would
be released on bond the same
day.
And then hours
later at 9:39 am the
prosecutors announced it.
Media rushed around reporting
it. Inner City Press had
it first, and after discretely
waiting, published it first.
Then this thread of
presentments, here
On September 16,
NYCHA defendant Charles Starks
moved to dismiss, noting that
the indictment provided
"almost no detail on... the
timing" - and citing the
Supreme Court's Snyder v. US
decision.
On November 12,
NYCHA defendant Hector Colon
was moving toward trial to
start on November 18. Inner
City Press went to the final
pre-trial conference, where
discussion ranged from a
Punjabi interpreter to voir
dire.
On November 18
Inner City Pres was there,
from the thread:
US v Hector
Colon. Contractor witness with
immunity agreement tells jury
he bribed 20 to 25 NYCHA
employees.
AUSA: Why did you
pay? Witness ( through Punjabi
interpreter) They demanded it
or they wouldn't sign off on
our work, the SOS, so we could
get paid.
On November
21, after the jury sent out a
note including that "we are
having a lot of discord, some
are more driven by bias +
don't believe some items." The
US Attorney's Office wanted to
ask if anyone on the jury is
refusing to deliberate based
on the Court's instructions;
the defense does not want to
ask, at least not yet.
On November 22
Inner City Press was in the
courtroom when Juror 10 was
taken into the robing room to
be questioned about having
done his own research.
Unclear, at least to the press
and public, what was said. But
a guilty verdict was returned:
"HECTOR COLON was convicted
today of bribery and extortion
under color of official right
for taking thousands of
dollars from contractors in
exchange for awarding those
contractors no-bid contracts
or approving payment on
previously awarded contracts
at NYCHA developments for
approximately three
years. The verdict
followed a four-day trial
before U.S. District Judge
Lewis J. Liman."
Inner City Press
will stay on these cases.
Watch this site.
This case is USA
v. Colon, 1:24-cr-367 (Liman)
Watch this
site - and these feeds: X
and X
for subscribers.
And Substack here
***
Your
support means a lot. As little as $5 a month
helps keep us going and grants you access to
exclusive bonus material on our Patreon
page. Click
here to become a patron.
Feedback:
Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA
Mail: Box 20047, Dag
Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
Other, earlier Inner City Press are
listed here,
and some are available in the ProQuest
service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright 2006-2024 Inner City
Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
|
,
