| In SDNY Mercado Charged With
Pistol Shot in the Bronx Claims It Was Only
BBs But Denied Bail
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Jan 10 – Orlando Mercado,
charged with providing a
pistol to another man named
Gonzalez who shot at the owner
of a parking lot in the Bronx
where the duo allegedly sold
drugs, argued for bail on
January 10 before U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge Barbra
Freeman.
It was a
presumption case, given the
charge of weapons in
connection with drugs. But
Mercado's assigned Criminal
Justice Act panel lawyer
Sabrina Shroff argued that
Mercado is a drug addict and
should be bailed to a
residential drug
program.
Shroff also
contested the strength of the
evidence, stating that one of
the witnesses is a cooperator
and that the pistol at issue
was a b.b. gun.
When
Assistant US Attorney Domenic
Gentile replied that Mercado
had been breaking into cars in
his Bronx neighborhood to
steal things to sell to feed
his drug habit, Judge Freeman
asked it might not be that he
broken into cars to sleep in
them.
For a
moment it looked like Mercado
might be bailed out. But
ultimately Judge Freeman said
she had no idea where Mercado
would live, if he would return
to court and that he was not,
in fact, a danger to the
community.
It was a remand
to prison without prejudice to
a renewed bail application,
perhaps to Judge Freeman if
she is available, or to the
judge covering the Magistrates
Court when the application is
made. She approved funding for
the transcript in that event.
The case is US v. Gonzalez, et
al., 19-cr-906 (Furman /
Freeman).
***
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