| Frank Bright Got 20 Years
For Killing Paulino Wins on Financial
Conditions Amid Tattoo Talk
By Matthew
Russell Lee, @SDNYLIVE
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Sept 22 -- On April 19, 2019
soon after his prosecution for
murder resulted in a mistrial,
Defendant Frank Bright pleaded
guilty.
That day Bright
said: "On December 24, 2014,
near 129th Street in
Manhattan, I agreed with
another person to rob
oxycodone pills from two drug
dealers. During the robbery,
Mr. Paulino was shot and
killed. I knew my actions were
wrong and
illegal."
U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Katherine Polk Failla said,
"Ms. Noriega, may I have a
sentencing date?"
Ms. Noriega
replied, "Tuesday, August 20,
at 3:30 pm." Inner
City Press went to the
sentencing at that time, see
below.
Then on November
27, 2020 Bright's new lawyers
for re-sentencing from Kramer
Levin filed a letter with
Judge Failla requesting that
she "decline to impose the
financial disclosure and
search conditions that it
imposed at the August 21, 2019
proceeding." They say, "Mr.
Bright is not a career
criminal... he will be nearly
50 years old when he is
released from prison." Watch
this site.
Bright on
June 17, 2019 told Judge
Failla, "I just felt like I
was misled into taking this
plea deal."
Then on July 19
Judge Failla told Bright's new
counsel John C. Meringolo
(whom Inner City Press
previously covered
when he represented John
Zancocchio in a Mafia /
racketeering trial before SDNY
Judge Alvin K.
Hellerstein) "Mr.
Meringolo, I appreciate you
coming in on what is somewhat
short notice. I received a
letter from your client dated
the 7th of July and it was, in
my reading, in conflict with
other statements that have
been made."
Meringolo
said, "We still want to move
forward with the plea
sentencing."
And so on August
20 Assistant US Attorney
Justin V. Rodriguez advocated
for the 240 months that his
Office had agreed to as the
cap; he told Judge Failla that
two of Amaury Paulino's
sisters wanted to make victim
impact statements.
Bright's
family members in the gallery
asked if they could make such
statement.
No, Judge Failla
said, the law does not provide
for that. But when she went
back into her robing room to
come up with the seemingly
pre-ordained sentence, one of
Bright's family members went
and expressed condolences to
Amaury Paulino's family
members. Another of Bright's
family members, however,
older, said loudly that one
day you'll see who really
killed your son. This was
quickly hushed
down.
Judge Failla
returned and said no grounds
for a variance below 240
months could be found; the 20
year sentence was imposed. It
will apparently be in Fort
Dix, with the RDAP program. Or
will the replacement of
counsel and the complaints
made, the at least two
pull-backs from the plea, give
rise to an appeal?
It did.
And on September 22, 2021,
another proceeding, which
Inner City Press again
covered. At issue were
conditions of release such as
looking at financial records
(removed from conditions) and
a request to be moved from
Bright's facility in West
Virginia, FCI Hazelton.
The AUSA
spoke about Bright's tattoos,
calling their message
"aspirational." Judge Failla
was not impressed. But Fort
Dix does not have a medium
security section. Watch
this site.
The case is US
v. Bright,
18-cr-56 (KPF).
***
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