| Lawyer Justin Levine Faces
SDNY Disciplinary Committee After Covering
Arrest With South America Trip
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
July 2 – Lawyer Justin Levine
is in trouble. On June 21 he
was arraigned for bringing
contraband - cigarettes and
allegedly marijuana and a
scalpel - to one of his
incarcerated clients.
On July 2
in the
U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York
courtroom of Judge
Valerie
Caproni,
with Inner
City Press the
only media
present,
Levine was
given two
weeks to
explain what
Judge Caproni
called a lie,
or be referred
to the SDNY's
Disciplinary
Committee.
Levine has
been
representing
Geraldine
Perez in a
case involving
bank fraud
which Inner
City Press has
covered since
March, here.
Levine's
sentencing
submission
included,
incongruously,
a single page
of a
handwritten
letter.
Judge Caproni
issued an
order that
Levine must
refile the
letter.
Levine
did not
respond.
When
he did, he
claimed that
"soon after
the sentence I
left the
country for a
previously
scheduled
vacation.
While in South
America I had
no access to
my e-mail. I
returned on
June 27th,
whereupon I
learned of
this Court's
orders."
But
Levine had
been in New
York, and
himself
charged with a
crime, on June
21.
Judge
Caproni asked
him repeatedly
who what he
had told her
was not
affirmatively
misleading, or
a lie.
Levine dodged
as best as he
could, saying
he could see
why it
appeared to be
misleading.
Finally
Judge Caproni
gave him a
deadline to
explain it all
in writing and
under oath or
she will refer
him to the
SDNY
Disciplinary
Committee.
More on
Patreon, here.
Inner City
Press will
continue to
follow this
case. , into
her courtroom
arrived four
individuals
seemingly
unconnected
from Nunez'
Washington
Heights crime.
After Nunez'
family left
following the
nine year
sentence
imposed by
Judge Caproni,
the four went
to the front.
It was a US
Attorney and
and FBI agent,
a defense
lawyer named
Levin and the
defendant,
Jorge
Torrealba. He
was soft
spoken,
waiving his
right to be
indicted but
pleading not
guilty. To
what? Receipt
and possession
of child
pornography.
The
government, as
it turns out,
asked for a
continuance to
review
"mitigation
materials."
His lawyer
asked for more
time so he
could see a
new
psychologist,
since his last
one stopped
accepting his
insurance.
When afterward
Inner City
Press, the
only media
present for
this
proceeding,
received the
case on Pacer
it was truly
horrific,
including a
reference to a
two year old,
on Kik
Messenger.
This is the
same SDNY
where an
employee of
the West Side
Market got
five years for
ordering up
child porn,
live, from the
Dominican
Republic.
Should
coverage of
these
proceeding be
hindered, or
limited to
those who
choose not to
cover
it?
On March 15
an NYPD officer who blew
the whistle on cheating
in promotion exams faced
blow-back himself on
March 15 in the SDNY
Jonathan
Blatt is asking
SDNY
Judge William
H. Pauley to
restore his status
as a
probationary Lieutenant;
the NYPD's lawyer
said there are
sexual
harassment
complaints
against Blatt.
The City's
filings says
Blatt
"is charged
with violation
of NYPD rules
prohibiting
sexual
harassment and
the creation
of a hostile
work
environment.
The
allegations
against
plaintiff
include
comments
regarding
threesomes and
'blumkins,'
a particular
sexual act, to
a female
service
member."
While
some call it a
case of the
"Bad
Lieutenant,"
Blatt says his
termination
was
retaliation, casting a
chilling
effect on
himself and
other officers
to challenge the
department.
Cases going
both ways were
cited -- HANAC
(101 F 3d
877),
about the
Mayor's
decision, and
Bartels v.
Incorporated
Village of Lloyd,
751 F Supp 2d 387
at 397. Judge
Pauley
reserved
decision. The
case is Blatt v.
City of New York,
19 Civ. 1227 (WHP).
Back on
March 8 a shooting in
The Bronx in October
2018 was the subject of
an ill-attended
conference in the SDNY.
Jerome Jackson
is described
as in a white
t-shirt with
silver handgun
on 2 October
2018 on
Freeman Street
- but in the
SDNY courtroom
of Judge Kevin
Castel he was
in jail house
blues and
shackles. His
lawyer Julia
Gatto
questioned
whether the
NYPD
detectives who
questioned
Jackson about
the shooting
were in fact
part of a
joint task
force with the
Feds - no,
Karin Potlock
for the
government
said, and on
that basis no
suppression -
and questioned
probable
cause. There
will be a
hearing on
that on April
Fools Day and
Inner City
Press aims to
be there. The
case is US
v. Jackson,
18 CR 760. A
week before on March 1
when Statue of Liberty
climber Patricia Okoumou
appeared in the SDNY ,
it was to face
revocation of bail for
more recent climbs, all
to protest the
separation of immigrant
families. SDNY Judge
Gorenstein did not
revoke bail but imposed
house arrest. He jibed
that it appeared Ms.
Okoumou could only
support herself by
donations garnered by
climbing. Afterward
Inner City Press asked
her lawyer Ron Kuby
about this argument. He
said the judge has it
precisely wrong, or in
reverse: she raised
money because she is an
activist, she is not an
actively in order to
make money. Ms. Okoumou
raised her fist, and
headed to Staten Island.
Photos here.
Inner City Press, which
interviewed Okoumou on
December 5 just after
another SDNY decision,
in the Patrick Ho / CEFC
China Energy UN bribery
case, headed out and
streamed this
Periscope, and this Q&A,
with more to come, on
this case and others.
How guns eject shell
casings was the subject
of expert testimony in a
Bronx gang trial on
February 27 in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York.
Before Judge
Robert W.
Sweet, an ATF
agent traced a
bullet back to
Illinois;
under cross
examination he
said a shell
casing might
eject feet
rather than
yards unless
it bounced on
something.
Then testimony
went back to
2007, a
14-year old
with a gun
heading from
the Millbrook
projects to
the Mitchell
Houses. The
defense asked
for a mistrial
when the name
of a second
gang was
introduced;
the
prosecution
shot back (so
to speak) that
it came from
photos on the
defendant's
own Facebook
page. And so
it goes in
trials these
days. Back
on February 25 a prison
sentence of life plus
five years was imposed
for a Bronx murder by
SDNY Chief Judge Colleen
McMahon on February 25.
She presided over the
trial in which Stiven
Siri-Reynoso was
convicted of, among
other things, murder in
aid of racketeering for
the death of Jessica
White, a 28 year old
mother of three, in the
Bronx in 2016. Jessica
White's mother was in
the court room; she was
greeted by Judge McMahon
but declined to speak
before sentencing.
Siri-Reynoso was
representing himself by
this point, with a
back-up counsel by his
side. Judge McMahon told
him, "You're a very
smart man... a tough
guy, a calculating
person... You are a
coward, sent a child to
do it for you... Your
emissary shot the wrong
person, a lovely lady...
It was a vicious, evil
attack against the good
people of that
neighborhood." When she
imposed the life plus
five sentence, a woman
on the Jessica White
side of the courtroom
cried out, yes Ma'am,
put the animal away!
Later, after
Siri-Reynoso ended
asking how he can get
more documents about the
case, a woman on his
side of the courtroom
said, "No te preocupes,
muchacho, Dios sabe lo
que hace" - don't worry,
God knows what he is
doing. But does He?
Watch this site.
***
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