| In Gang Trial Semi Anonymous Jury
Denied 3 Guilty Verdicts Now Lead Defendant
Gets Life
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Substack
Book
SDNY COURT
EXCLUSIVE, Oct 9 - In
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York back on July 27, 2022 a
detention or release
proceeding was held by
Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn
on a defendant charged with
firearms use, carrying and
possession in a narcotics
conspiracy that was not, in
the proceeding, named.
It was Own
Every Dollar, the subject of
an SDNY / Manhattan DA press
conference on August 2
announcing the unsealing of a
superseding indictment for
multiple murders including in
The Bronx.
On March 31 at
the final pre-trial conference
for the three defendants going
to trial on April 7 the AUSA
asked that the names of jurors
not be said in court. Defense
counsel opposed what he called
a request for a quasi
anonymous jury. The AUSA said
this is not a fraud trial but
one for extremely violent
behavior, that jurors from
Washington Heights might be
afraid. When one defense
counsel said they'd be no
press, Judge Oetken said,
there's a member of the Press,
pointing out Inner City Press.
Yes, we are covering this
case. The request was
correctly denied.
On April 2 in the
SDNY Mag Court, another
defendant pled guilty - this
time, to all charges including
an after-arising one of use of
K2 and other drugs while in
jail. The AUSA referred to the
"context" of the plea, and for
that reason Inner City Press
is voluntarily not here
reporting the name of the
co-defendant who pled guilty.
But we expected to see him at
trial - and we did, on April
14, see below.
On April 8, the second
day of jury selection, names
were said and spelled - and
voluntarily not reported by
Inner City Press. Next up:
trial.
On April 9, a
cooperator in from prison in
Putnam linked all three
defendants to two murders,
saying he did not participate
in them but did get a driver
to take him to Pennsylvania
when he was on the run. The
AUSAs began assembling their
board of photos next to the
jurors, including the lead
defendant's father.
On the afternoon
of Thursday April 10 with the
jury let go for the week,
Judge Oetken held a Daubert
hearing about the expertise
and reliability of Shot
Spotter and its staffer Walter
Collier III, who was
questioned by video.The
company, he said, has some 100
customers, two or three of
them overseas...
On April 14, the
April 2 cooperator Olivier was
on the stand, describing the
Reading, Pennsylvania "on the
run" house and
interpreting "grim
reaper" drawing as a murder
confession. There were more
people in the gallery than
before...
On April 28,
another cooperator, this time
cross examined about
committing stabbings in
Rikers, while under a
cooperation agreement (albeit
with the Manhattan DA's
office).
On April 30,
counsel for the lead defendant
in her closing argument called
Olivier a liar, and zeroed in
on a purse that was never
vouchered - why? Objection!
the AUSA said, overruled.
On May 7, US
Attorney Clayton: "a jury held
three violent members of a
Manhattan-based gang, “Own
Every Dollar,” or OED,
responsible for four murders,
10 attempted murders, drug
trafficking, and gun
running.... Jowenky Nunez,
Jr., Brian Hernandez, and
Iyaury Rodriguez-Rosario face
mandatory life sentences."
On May 23
co-defendant Deaza, who did
not go to trial, wrote in
through counsel to ask for 10
years on June 5.
On May 30,
co-defendant Tavarez asked for
10 years on June 12.
On June 5 the US
Attorney's Office wrote in
asking for 135 months.
On June 12
Tavarez got 120 months - and
Deaza got 144 months.
On June 18, Nunez
Sr was the subject of a
superseding indicement, the
S10.
On August 15,
2025 the sentencing of Llorett
was moved back to January 21,
2026, and Zapata to November
21 - due to what defense
counsel called "a sentencing
related consideration that has
just arisen," being discussed
with the US Attorney's Office.
On September 2
counsel to Iyaury Rodrigues
Rosario wrote in acknowledging
that on September 17 he must
be sentenced to life
imprisonment without the
possibility of parole... "this
letter is submitted to paint a
picture of the man that this
Court must sentence to life
imprisonment."
On September 10
the US Attorney's Office wrote
in, "each of the three
defendants face two mandatory
terms of life imprisonment for
the brutal murders of Cabrera
and Dominguez. Life sentences
are appropriately reserved for
only the gravest criminal
conduct. And so it is here.
There is no doubt that the
defendants’ conduct was so
horrifically violent that
sentences of life imprisonment
are not greater than necessary
to serve the purposes of
sentencing."
On September 15
the September 17 sentencing
was adjourned, to be
rescheduled "to a date as soon
as practicable."
On October 9
Nunez Jr. was sentenced to
life imprisonment; some spoke
of disquiet in Courtroom 318.
More on X for
Subscribers here
and Substack here
The overall case
is USA v. Nunez, et al.,
1:22-cr-293 (Oetken)
***
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