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Honduras Trial Cooperator Grilled on
Murder Amid US Bid To Cut Audio of 2
Witnesses
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Song Filing
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 15 – Does the right to
access to Federal court
proceedings extend to
listen-only telephone lines,
in the time of COVID and
beyond? Should it?
The
question has been further
raised in the ongoing Honduras
narco-trafficking case US v.
Geovanny Fuentes, which Inner
City Press has been covering
in-person in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York, where it
is "in-house press."
On March 15, the
trial continued with the audio
call-in line (for now?) still
open, but threatened to be cut
for at least two witnesses,
which Inner City Press has
opposed, here.
Inner City Press live tweeted,
here:
Judge Castel did
not yet mention the cut-off of
call-in line demanded by US
Attorney's Office, just said
resume cross examination of
Leonel Rivera
Fuentes' lawyer:
Do you remember telling
prosecutors Chino had been
arrested on a drug charge in
Miami? Leonel Rivera:
Generally, yes.
Fuentes' lawyer:
Do you remember Toen Montes
saying Chino might cooperate,
and seeking your help to kill
Chino?
Leo Rivera: Toen
Montes is a narco-trafficker.
Fuentes' lawyer: So Chino was
killed in jail? Leo Rivera:
That, I don't remember.
Fuentes'
lawyer: Do you remember
testifying differently in a
trial in this this courthouse,
before the same judge? Judge
Castel: Irrelevant.
Fuentes' lawyer:
Do you remember testifying
differently? Leo Rivera: I
don't remember. Many narcos
wanted China dead.
Fuentes'
lawyer (on another murder) -
So he was tortured with a
cattle prod before you eyes
and then you shot him, right?
Leonel Rivera: Unfortunately,
yes. [Lastimosamente, si]
Fuentes' lawyer:
You had paid off President
Lobo, then President
Hernandez, correct? Leonel
Rivera: Yes. Fuentes' lawyer:
But you couldn't be sure they
wouldn't extradite you to the
US, right? Leonel Rivera: It
did not come to that. I turned
myself in. Fuentes' lawyer,
hammering away: You passed
information about Mr. Berrios
to Ramos Matos, who you knew
was a drug trafficker,
correct? Leonel Rivera:
Lastimosamente si, senor -
Unfortunately, yes.
Fuentes' lawyer:
And you knew he would likely
be killed? Leo Rivera: Of that
I wasn't sure. They had
already taken his properties.
Fuentes' lawyer:
Did you think Ramos Mato was
just going to say to Mr
Berrios, Please don't do that
again? Leo Rivera: I didn't
know.
Fuentes'
lawyer: About a month later,
Mr. Berrios was killed, right?
Leo Rivera: Yes he was killed.
I'm not sure how long after I
passed the information.
Fuentes' lawyer: It was not
very long, correct? Leo
Rivera: It was fast, yes.
Judge
Castel: How much longer do you
have? Fuentes' lawyer: I'm
moving on to another topic.
Judge Castel:
That's not what I asked you.
How much longer? Fuentes'
lawyer: Several hours.
Judge Castel: OK,
we'll take out break.
On
the morning of March 13, Inner
City Press filed a challenge
to the cut-off of audio access
to the US v. Fuentes trial,
citing the First Amendment,
COVID and real-world politics,
see here
and below.
Late on
the evening of March 14, the
US Attorney's Office filed a
three page letter into the
docket, specifically arguing
the the call-in line be
eliminated for two entire
Witnesses and everything they
say. US Attorney's Office's
letter, now uploaded on Inner
City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
If
the US Attorney's Office for
the SDNY so routinely seeks to
reach beyond not only its
District, but the United
States, to bring cases, it
should not be allowed to
argument on little notice to
cut off access to those most
impacted by the cases and
their contents, no matter if
these people are beyond the
District and clearly cannot
come in the overflow room.
That the US Attorney's Office
does not address the COVID /
physical presence in the
courthouse issues shows this
lack of concern."
Inner City Press
after its first filing waited
nine hours, including this song,
here, to report about
it. Full first letter on Inner
City Press' DocumentCloud, here.
Inner City
Press itself obeys all
existing rules and is grateful
for the additional access as
in-house media (particularly
since it is banned
from covering the UN, which
now Constitutional rights such
as the First Amendment exist).
But others
have rights too - including
journalists and regular
citizens of Honduras.
The case is US v. Diaz, 15-cr-379
(Castel).
***
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