by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, May 16 – Malek Mohammad Balouchzehi has been on trial for conspiracy to import narcotics into the US from Mozambique and elsewhere.
On May 11, 2023, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jesse M. Furman was presiding over the trial in large courtroom 318 in 40 Foley Square. Inner City Press went and covered it. That day, and to the guilty verdicts on May 16, there was no other media.
On May 11, Balouchzehi's CJA counsel from Quinn Emanuel was cross-examining the prosecution's phone and photo expert. It was established that while most photos taken by a phone were stored in the DCIM folder, other defaults can be set.
Over objections, Defense Exhibit 2C came in - the prosecutors had already introduced it. Summations should be Monday, May 15.
On May 12, the charge conference was held. Inner City Press was there. The defense wanted out the instruction about absent witnesses, saying they could not have called the Mozambique undercover, who was anonymous. The prosecution said they didn't try. Judge Furman to his credit docketed the draft charge - and the jury questionnaire.
The US closing on May 15 had a video of the defendant scrolling through photos of drugs - and the cans of tuna he allegedly shipped them in - on this phone. The quantities were astonishing: 500 kilos, $37 million. There were photos of the villa in Kenya where a meeting was held. By the afternoon, the lawyers waited in nearly empty courtroom 318.
On May 16, defense counsel was waiting up on the 5th floor, monitoring 2d Circuit arguments before, among others, Judge Alison J. Nathan. Finally, the verdict: guilty on both counts.
The case is US v. Balouchzehi, 21-cr-658 (Furman)
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