By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Song Filing
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 8 – Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez took a briefcase of cash and said he would stuff drugs up the noses of the gringos, a jury was told on March 16, 2021. Inner City Press live tweeted it, morning here and then the afternoon, about the video(s), here and below. Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez was found guilty, and his lawyer told Inner City Press he thought JOH would be or has already been indicted.
On February 8, just after it was revealed that now ex-President JOH has been on a US sanctions list for some time, Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez in a brown prison suit, with defense lawyer John Burke by his side, was up for sentencing before Judge P. Kevin Castel. Inner City Press was there and live tweeted it, here:
Honduras case sentencing of drug trafficker Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, connected to now sanctioned ex-Prez JOH. His lawyer asks that he get only 40 years.
Geovanny Fuentes is speaking, saying he is innocent, that his case shouldn't have had the same number as US v Victor Hugo Diaz Morales. Judge Castel is listening, apparently researching on his computer
Geovanny is naming co-defendants, the Salgueros, saying he is not mentioned in those cases. (He appears to be crying)
Judge Castel: Twelve jurors convicted you. You had 3 lawyers. There was substantial evidence. Today is for srntencing. You are free to appeal to 3 judges. But I urge you to focus on sentencing
Fuentes: The US Attorney fabricated this case. I had 4 more pages to read to you. I am being denied my right to a defense. I am in lockdown for COVID and fighting
CJA lawyer Burke: You and repeating yourself. Talk about yout family. Fuentes: I miss my family.
Fuentes: I am a family man. (Now he is crying). We the weak placed our faith in the US. There is a divine law. Assistant US Attorney: He was a key player in a state sponsored drug conspiracy that has plagued Honduras. He had a lab. He was a sicario.
AUSA: He worked with the Sinaloa Cartel. He tortured a police officer. He partnered with now former president Juan Orlando Hernandez.
AUSA: He bribed JOH, and partnered with him to put drugs up the nose of the gringos. He deserves life in prison.
Judge Castel: For well over 5000 kilos of cocaine, I am sentencing you. You were violent.
Judge Castel: He killed the police officer who raided his coke lab, torturing him to find out if his money launderer had been implicated. 40 years is not just punishment. I sentence Fuentes Ramirez to life imprisonment plus 30 years.
Defense: Can he serve it in prison in Florida?
Judge Castel: I'll make that recommendation. Try to make things right to your family. Adjourned.
On May 10, 2021 in the parallel case of US v. Lobo, Honduras police officer Ludwig Criss Zelaya Romero was being sentenced by Judge Schofield. Inner City Press live tweeted it here:
Inner City Press video stand up afterward here.
This case is US v. Lobo, et al., 15-cr-174 (Schofield)
On April 26, the lawyer for co-defendant Otto Salguero Morales wrote to Judge Castel complaining he hasn't been given the recorded calls and emails "obtained in the Giovanni [sic] Fuentes case." So he says no trial date can be set. This while the UK sanctions Oscar Ramon Najera. What is the US State Department doing? We have asked them, and the US Mission to the UN, without answer.
On April 29, Otto Salguero-Morales' lawyer followed up with a motion for "random reassignment" of his case, away from Judge Castel. He asks why his case was linked to that of Tony Hernandez, while Leonel Devis Rivera-Maradiaga and Alexander Ardon-Soriano have different judges. He questions the process of superseding indictments. Now there's also a Motion For Reassignment of Indictment . Document, filed by Ronald Enrique Salguero Portillo. Watch this site.
Back on March 16, 2021 JOH's brother Tony Hernandez was belatedly up for sentencing before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel, who oversaw his trial leading to guilty verdicts in October 2019. Judge Castel sentenced him to life plus thirty years and said in prison he should reflect on how to help his family "and [his] country" - perhaps a reference to telling the US government and then juries what else he knows. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here and below. The ensuing celebrations, across Worth Street from the SDNY courthouse and in Honduras, Inner City Press dubbed the "Castel-ebracion."
Now on April 12, two more defendants in the case had a status conference before Judge Castel. Inner City Press live tweeted it, here:
Judge Castel has a proceeding on Otto Rene Salguero Morales and Ronald Enrique Salguero Portillo.
Lawyer for Ronald Enrique Salguero Portillo says she wants more discovery information, all she's been given is testimony of a cooperator, Ardon. Says she needs time to meet with the defendant at the MCC jail.
Judge Castel: Let's hear from the US. Why haven't you answered the defense's emails about discovery? Asst US Attorney: We spoke in December.
Lawyer: I wrote to them in January, nothing heard back. What is my client charged with? It can't just be what Mr. Ardon says.
Lawyer: This client is a Guatemalan national. My other client [in Lobo case before Judge Schofield] was a member of the Honduras National Police.
Judge Castel: Does the government think there is a potential conflict? AUSA: No view at this time.
Judge Castel (sounding frustrated) - We'll get to the bottom of this - did the government send you the discovery from the Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado case or not?
Lawyer: Partially. We didn't get discovery about the videos, nor copies of documents
Judge Castel: I'm wondering if I've been lied to, by one side or the other. Now lawyer for Otto Rene Salguero Morales asks for discovery from the Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez trial.
Judge Castel: So when will this case be ready for trial? Lawyer for Otto Rene Salguero Morales: I can't be sure yet. I'll be in New York next week.
Judge Castel: OK, we'll get together again in six weeks. May 26 at 10:30 am.
Interim update: this morning's proceeding was technical and proceeding, but the case involves not only Presidential brother Tony Hernandez, but also... El Chapo. A photo of a filing from the case is here.
On April 7, Tony Hernandez filed notice of appeal to the Second Circuit - still with a lawyer paid by the US taxpayers, and even the $505 appeal fee waived: "Appeal Remark as to Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado re: [311] Notice of Appeal - Final Judgment. $505.00 Appeal Fee Waived. Attorney CJA."
Also on April 7, another proceeding, this time in Judge Castel's own, smaller courtroom. Inner City Press live tweeted it here:
Mauricio Hernandez Pineda is in yellow prison jump suit. Inner City Press is alone in the gallery. It has begun.
Mauricio Hernandez Pineda's lawyer Mr Leader has represented Zavala Velasquez in US v Lobo. Will he waive the conflict?
But first: he is 49, gets treatment for cholesterol. Brother passed away last week.
US says both were members of same conspiracy. But Mauricio Hernandez Pineda waives any conflict of interest.
Proceeding is over. Next date is June 8, 2:30 pm, time excluded with US citing possible "pre-trial disposition" talks, which is standard
On April 5, Inner City Press began asking what has happened with the 2018 indictment of Midence Oqueli Martinez Turcios? Since July 2018, there is nothing in the docket, although Honduran media reported he had turned himself in to the DEA. Where is he? Who might he testify against? Indictment and more on Patreon here.
On April 2, with the indictment of El Tigre Bonilla still listed as "under seal," Inner City Press published the indictment on its DocumentCloud, here. Why is this still listed as sealed? Watch this site.
From March 30: Judge Castel: Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado, you are remanded to be imprisoned for life on Count 1... & 30 years on Count 2, consecutive. Forfeiture of $138.5 million. No fine.
Judge Castel: You have the right to appeal, including as a poor person. I hope that while you are in person you will reflect on your life and what you've done and turn your life around. Perhaps you can do some good for your family and your country.
Defense lawyer Brill: I will file a notice of appeal, and then be relieved. Judge Castel: We are adjourned.
A question still: Does the right to access to Federal court proceedings extend to listen-only telephone lines, in the time of COVID and beyond? Should it?
The question has been further raised in the ongoing Honduras narco-trafficking case US v. Geovanny Fuentes, which Inner City Press has been covering in-person in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where it is "in-house press."
On the morning of March 13, Inner City Press filed a challenge to the cut-off of audio access to the US v. Fuentes trial, citing the First Amendment, COVID and real-world politics, see here and below.
Late on the evening of March 14, the US Attorney's Office filed a three page letter into the docket, specifically arguing the the call-in line be eliminated for two entire Witnesses and everything they say. US Attorney's Office's letter, now uploaded on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
Inner City Press has immediately responded in opposition, here, stating among other things that "the US Attorney's Office seeks to specifically ban public access to two of their Witnesses, while saying that a transcript would be available at some unspecified date afterwards. Given that the Office has yet to unseal improperly redacted portions of their filings, there is little reason to have confidence in the speed of transcription, or that such transcripts would not be too expensive for the public or media.
Inner City Press after its first filing waited nine hours, including this song, here, to report about it. Full first letter on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
Inner City Press itself obeys all existing rules and is grateful for the additional access as in-house media (particularly since it is banned from covering the UN, which now Constitutional rights such as the First Amendment exist).
But others have rights too - including journalists and regular citizens of Honduras. If the SDNY prosecutors are going to exercises essentially universal jurisdiction for any wire transfer that passes through lower Manhattan, how ever briefly, they should not oppose access to their trials by those impacted, for better and worse.
Judge Castel is a good judge, in Inner City Press' experience. When petitioned he has ordered the unsealing of certain court documents, in a North Korea crypto-currency conference case and the tech / child sex sentencing of Peter Bright former of ArsTechnica, both of which Inner City Press covered and requested. And Judge Castel is certainly in the mainstream in his March 12 psoition. But should it be rethought? Is there a right? Should there be? Watch this site.
The case is US v. Diaz, 15-cr-379 (Castel).
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