| In Narcotics
Trial Spanning Bronx to NJ Shannon Got 260
Months Now Motion Denied
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 8 –
Robert Shannon has been on
trial for drugs and guns. He
is in Essex County Corrections
Facility. And he will
remain incarcerated. On August
16, with Inner City Press the
only media in the courtroom,
the jury returned a guilty
verdict, 400 grams or more of
fentanyl. On March
29, 2021, U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge John P. Cronan
held a proceeding on Shannon.
Inner City Press covered it. On the
question of discovery, the
defense lawyer said he was
getting a bigger thumb drive
or hard drive, but that review
of the discovery in the Essex
jail's law library was
difficult. Shannon spoke for
himself as to the limitation.
On March
31, 2021 Judge Cronan held a
proceeding on co-defendant
Kareem Roderique. There was
more talk about hard drives
for discovery. In March 2022
Roderique pled guilty, and on
November 9 he was sentenced.
Inner City Press was there.
After a detailed discussion of
isomers and derivatives, and
career offender status,
Rodrique spoke for himself. He
noted that Judge Cronan
recently visited the MDC, his
unit, but that he had not been
able to greet him. He spoke
about his previous prison
stints, and not ever getting
counseling. He faced a
guideline of 262 months; Judge
Cronan after a detailed
reasoning gave him 200 months
and five years of supervised
released. If you violated,
Judge Cronan said, mostly
likely I'll still be your
judge. And what will prisons
be like then? Back on October
28, when after a number of
postponements a co-defendant
was sentenced: "Minute Entry
for proceedings held before
Judge John P. Cronan:
Sentencing held on 10/27/2022
for Nikia King (3) Count 1.
Sentencing held on October 27,
2022 for Nikia King (3) with
regard to Count 1 of the
Superseding Indictment. The
Court sentenced Defendant
principally to a term of
imprisonment of 60 months, to
be followed by a 5-year term
of supervised release. $100
special assessment imposed." Back on October
5, 2022: "Minute Entry for
proceedings held before Judge
John P. Cronan: Status
Conference as to Kareem
Roderique held on 10/4/2022.
Defense Counsel Hannah McCrea
present. AUSA Patrick Moroney
present. Court Reporter:
Sharonda Jones. Defendant did
not appear. Defense Counsel
shall advise the government
and the court of Mr. Blyden's
status by 5 p.m. today. Speedy
trial time is excluded from
today, October 5, 2022, until
October 6, 2022, in the
interests of justice. Bail
continued. (Sentencing set for
11/9/2022 at 02:30 PM before
Judge John P. Cronan.)" On October 12,
Judge Cronan put Roderique on
notice he faces a two level
enhancement: "ORDER as to
Kareem Roderique: The
sentencing proceeding for
Defendant Kareem Roderique is
scheduled to be continued on
November 9, 2022. The parties
in their plea agreement
stipulated to certain
applications of the United
States Sentencing Guidelines,
which did not include a
two-level enhancement for
"maintain[ing] a premises for
the purpose of manufacturing
or distributing a controlled
substance" under section
2D1.1(b)(12). See Plea
Agreement at 2-3; see also
Dkt. 174 at 8 n.5 (noting that
the Government was "persuaded"
not to apply the section
2D1.1(b)(12) enhancement
because "even though Roderique
had access to the mill, his
role in the conspiracy was
primarily a supplier"). Under
the terms of the plea
agreement, see Plea Agreement
at 5, and as the Court advised
Mr. Roderique at his March 4,
2022 plea hearing, see Dkt. 92
at 21:8-21, the Court is not
bound at sentencing to any
agreement by the parties as to
the application of the
Guidelines. In addition, at
the August 2022 trial of
co-Defendant Robert Shannon,
cooperating witness Ken
Johnson testified about, among
other things, Mr. Roderique's
role in the drug distribution
conspiracy. See, e.g., Trial
Tr. at 410:11-13:14. At
sentencing on November 9,
2022, the parties should be
prepared to address the
following: (1)whether at Mr.
Roderiques sentencing, the
Court may rely on evidence
received at Mr.Shannons trial,
including testimony from Mr.
Johnson, in determining Mr.
Roderiques applicable
Guidelines range or in
application of the factors
under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) as
they relate to Mr. Roderique,
see United States v. Cacace,
796 F.3d 176, 191 (2d Cir.
2015) ("[A] sentencing court
is entitled to rely on any
type of information known to
it, even information gleaned
from a trial in which the
person to be sentenced was
neither a defendant nor
represented by counsel."
(internal alteration and
quotation marks omitted)); and
(2) whether in light of the
evidence received at Mr.
Shannon's trial, including Mr.
Johnson's testimony, a
two-level enhancement for
"maintain[ing] a premises for
the purpose of manufacturing
or distributing a controlled
substance" under section
2D1.1(b)(12) applies to Mr.
Roderique's conduct. The
parties also may make any
written submissions on the
above issues in advance of the
sentencing, although they are
not required to do so. (Signed
by Judge John P. Cronan on
10/12/2022)." On August 9,
2022, when Judge Cronan was
presiding over the trial.
Shannon's lawyer was question
the supervising Agent who
arrested cooperator Ken
Johnson, described as a big
fish who raised $185,000 in a
week. Once arrested, and in
handcuffs, he started naming
names. But Shannon's name
didn't appear in the group
chat until 38 minutes in, his
lawyer pointed out. On August 11, Ken
Johnson was on the witness
stand. He was shown video of
his wife carting a big
suitcase into her car -
leased, he pointed out - soon
after he was arrested and
started cooperating. He
insisted that in the suitcase,
which he called a briefcase,
were only an Xbox, a
Playstation and headphones. He
was asked about gang signs and
a long history of cooperation.
On August 12
Judge Cronan asked Shannon if
he was going to testify. No,
Shannon said. The jury was
called back and, Juror 4 was
let go (there are two
alternates), and then the
charging conference, not long.
It was coming to a close. And after it did,
with guilty verdicts, and
sentencing memos were
submitted, on December 9 -
strangely dated October 31,
2022 - Shannon's counsel wrote
it to blame himself for that
the US called Shannon's lack
of remorse, saying "it is very
difficult to straddle the line
between preservation of appeal
rights and expression of
remorse." On December 13
when Shannon was sentenced,
Inner City Press went. Judge
Cronan went in detail through
the weight and guidelines
calculations. Then Shannon was
sentenced to 260 months in
prison. Jump cut to June
8, 2026 when Judge Cronan
denied Shannon's 2255 motion
for a new trial. The case is USA v. Shannon, et al., 1:21-cr-56 (Cronan)
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