Charged with Robbing Six Bank Branches in NYC Man Asked to Suppress Judge Says Moot

Charged with Robbing Six Bank Branches in NYC Man Asked to Suppress Judge Says Moot by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 26 – A man charged with robbing six bank branches in Manhattan was presented on January 16 in the Magistrates Court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which Inner City Press closely covers.   The indictment lists bank branches at 305 Seventh Avenue, 360 Park Avenue, 386 Park Avenue, 204 West 4th Street, 475 West 23rd Street and 225 Fifth Avenue.   He was assigned a Federal Defender and consented to detention without prejudice to applying for release on bond at a later date. On March 12 Inner City Press was back in Judge Rakoff's courtroom when the Federal Defenders argued to suppress statements made after their client partially invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. Judge Rakoff said he's likely to suppress some, but set a May 18 trial date. The AUSA said he has a May 11 trial in the District of New Jersey. Judge Rakoff said given what's happening there, he may have no one to report to there. After counsel left - and the defendent, in a yellow jumpsuit, was taken out, presumably to the Essex County jail, Judge Rakoff took four questions from visiting digital law students from Spain. He praised the jury system and said he has only disagreed twice in 300 trials, both on overly-large damages in civil cases. He said he like things public - so does Inner City Press. On March 25 the US Attorney's Office wrote in to say the motion to suppress is moot, because it does not plan to use in its case-in-chief any portion of the post-arrest interview that is the subject of the motion. On March 26, Judge Rakoff declared it moot and closed: " the Government clarified that it "will not offer any portion of the post-arrest interview during its case-in-chief." In light of the Government's representation, the Court hereby denies Neilly's motion as moot. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to close the motion at docket entry 8. (Signed by Judge Jed S. Rakoff on 3/26/26)."  The case is USA v. Neilly, 1:26-cr-15 (Rakoff). *** 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. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com Mail: Box 130222, Chinatown Station, NY NY 10013 Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2026 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com