by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY EXCLUSIVE, Dec 22 – Kelly Josek was brought in shackles into the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on December 15, 2023.
Inner City Press was there, the only media in the SDNY Mag Court. In the days since, Inner City Press has interviewed Ms. Josek, about her early life and legal troubles. It is a story of resilience, or persistence, one that does not make the system look good.
She was born to a middle class family that fell apart, leaving her homeless at 15 and vulnerable to male predators, including one high in the legal profession (more on that later in this series).
In jail in Rikers Island under the name Kelly Spinelli-Josek she was assaulted, leading to a $450,000 payment. But when this month, in detention in Queens after release from SDNY she asked not to be returned to Rikers, her appointed lawyer said they don't care about that in Queens.
When she was released from Queens, she was picked up on an NYPD Brooklyn I-Card, only getting out of detention on December 22 - when she was due to self-surrender in New Jersey (and misleadingly there are arraignments there on Saturday - there are not).
In the Texas case which triggered her first SDNY detention, her appointed lawyer said he couldn't or wouldn't help her. Only once she was transported there from SDNY - most likely slowly, and through the BOP facility in Oklahoma) would he speak to her. She admits she is a junkie. But this system is broken. Why for example was her drug treatment program cut off as soon as EDTX issued a warrant for her? We will have more on this.
For now more - on a law firm, a film director, and NYPD - on Substack here
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