| Maisonet Remains Detained
Despite COVID 19 Argument As Judge Rakoff Says
Police Overstretched
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 23 --
Victor Maisonet has been
imprisoned on charges of
illegally possession and
selling guns. His Federal
Defenders filed a motion for
release pending trial, citing
Coronavirus COVID-19.
U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Jed S. Rakoff had, only
half an hour before, released
a defendant to home
incarceration citing
Coronavirus. But the issue in
that case was risk of flight.
For Maisonet, it was danger to
the community.
Federal
Defender Zawadi Baharanyi
gamely argued that gun sales
are generally not illegal, are
even Constitutionally
protected. (Maisonet is a
felon, though).
Judge Rakoff took things in a
different direction, stating
that given the virus crisis,
police are overtaxed and the
standard for danger to
community may be
lower.
Federal
Defender Baharanyi pointed to
Rikers Island as a harbinger
for the Federal prison system.
Judge Rakoff said that Rikers
has been a symbol of all that
is wrong for 20 years, and
that perhaps the Bureau of
Prisons it doing a good job.
He left open the possibility
of a renewed application for
release, but declined to grant
this one. The case is US v.
Maisonet, 20-cr-118 (Rakoff).
***
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