| After NYCHA
Bribery Take Down First Trial
of Joy Harris Has $500
Payments at Wald Houses
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Oct 10 – 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 October 9,
NYCHA defendant Joy Harris was
on trial, the first trial. On
the stand was an immunized
witness, Mr. Singh, who said
he twice paid bribed to Joy
Harris. He described her
saying, I need something;
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said for
the record, rubbing his index
finger and thumb together.
Payments were
made in the trash compactor
room of the Taft Houses on
East 114 Street in East
Harlem.
On
cross-examination it emerged
that the second payment was
after Joy Harris signed the
certificate of service
allowing the witness' company
DK Bangla to be paid. Might
that be a gratuity, under
current precedent? Judge
Kaplan admonished the defense
lawyer to hold for closing
arguments.
On October 10
another contractor was on the
witness stand, who said he
paid Joy Harris in increments
of $500 for jobs such as
installation of rolling metal
gates, including at the
[Lillian] Wald Houses on the
Lower East Side. Another CJA
defense lawyer was in the
gallery; another NYCHA
defendant, Starks, has filed a
motion to dismiss citing the
Supreme Court's Snyder
decision.
Watch this site.
A case is US v.
Starks, 24-cr-126 (Rochon)
The trial is USA
v. Harris, 1:24-cr-00207
(Kaplan)
Watch this
site - and these feeds: X
and X
for subscribers.
And Substack here
***
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