By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 19 – In a multi-defendant drugs and guns case there was to be, and was, a jury trial in the fourth quarter of 2021.
On April 2, 2021 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Valerie E. Caproni held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered it - and the trial.
The case includes shootings on Willis Avenue in the South Bronx. Judge Caproni said she would be asking for a trial spot in the fourth quarter, but couldn't yet know the date.
She said she anticipated trying any remaining defendants in a single trial, "to the extent possible in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic."
And the solo defendant trial of Jose Caban ran through October 19. But just before it, the Bureau of Prisons moved Caban from the MCC to the MDC - and declared he must be quarantined.
On October 12 Judge Caproni formally ordered that the defense attorney must be allowed into the MDC with laptop to meet or "anyone in the MDC who refuses to compy with this Order must be prepared to be held in contempt of court." That did not happen.
But oon October 19 with a Magistrate Judge and staff in the gallery the jury came back, guilty. Inner City Press was in the back row. And the sentencing was set for February 17. The defense lawyer rode down in the elevator in silence.
Judge Caproni for her part did what she could. But could this be an appealable issue?
The case is US v. Caban, 19-cr-166 (Caproni)
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