In
the morning I saw the crowds building
up outside the courthouse. I went up
to the 11th floor, where Judge
Castel's courtroom is. An hour before
the arraignment, the hallway was full.
A Court Security Officer told me, You
can be in the jury box. But don't wait
until the last minute. I wouldn't.
I
went up to the 26th floor and spoke
with some of the Honduran New Yorkers
there. I looked out window down at the
still-growing crowd on Worth Street. I
thought people might be disappointed,
that the proceeding might be over in
five minutes.
Courtroom
11D was full. I recognized some people
and not others. Judge Castel's clerk
told everyone to keep their masks on
for COVID, and not to stand up with
the judge came in. Still many people
began standing up.
Juan
Orlando Hernandez was brought in from
the cell block door by three U.S.
Marshals. He looked out at the people
in the gallery and tapped his chest.
Like, from my heart to yours.
His upbeat manner was
contradicted by the argument made by
his lawyer, Colon. He said JOH had
been in solidary confinement; money
could even be put into his commissary
account to buy extra food. When they
took JOH to the jail's basketball
court, they left him without a ball.
Oh, the inhumanity.
Judge
Castel set a return date, September
28, and even a trial date: January 17,
2023. The Assistant US Attorney said
his Office might be making a filing
under the Classified Information
Procedures Act. If so, I realized
having covering CIPA filings in cases
about North Korea and China, JOH's
trial could be pushed deeper into
2023.
Out on Worth Street Colon said
more, that he planned to subpoena as
witnesses Trump and Biden and El
Chapo. I thought, Why not UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres, who had
backed up JOH's second term by sending
a four person panel to smooth over the
water.
When
I started asking for the panel's
report, I was thrown out of the UN,
and was still banned, none of my
written questions asked. Guterres
should be on trial too.
That
would be one of my projects, and what
the people on the sidewalk told me
after the arraignment. Watch this
site.
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