By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - The Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Jan 21 – It was five pm on August 24, 2020 with two co-defendants appeared by video before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman. Inner City Press covered it.
The two men, Victor Castro and Eduardo Fernandez, were arrested with $250,000 in the trap of a car they had driven from Massachusetts.
Castro's Federal Defender said he owns a home worth $400,000. The address was given, and the salary and workplace of his wife.
Co-defendant Fernandez has a girlfriend who works for a bank making $100,000 a year. Both men were ordered released on $175,000 bond, but were detained overnight in the MCC.
On January 5, 2021, the case resurfaced, but only with Castro, not Fernandez. Castro, still represented by the same Federal Defender, has a trial date of May 3 before SDNY Judge Sidney H. Stein.
Meanwhile, Fernandez has dropped from the case and has gotten a series of "Orders to Continue in the Interest of Justice," from Magistrate Judges.
Now this one, docketed on January 21, from Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron: "ORDER TO CONTINUE IN THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE as to Eduardo Fernandez. Time excluded from 1/20/21 until 2/19/21. (Signed by Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron on 1/20/21)."
The case was US v. Castro and Fernandez, 20-mj-8994 (Freeman)
Now it is just US v. Castro, 20-cr-637 (Stein).
***
Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.
