In Other Media-eg NYLJ New Statesman, CJR, NY Mag, AJE, Georgia, CSM Click here to contact us     .

by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 19 – Raul Silva faced a jury trial on the charge of causing the death of another with narcotics, conviction on which carries a 20 year mandatory minimum sentence. 

    Silva was offered and signed a plea agreement to a lesser included offense, but then reputed it.

 On April 13, 2023 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel held a proceeding in the case. Inner City Press went and covered it. 

  The proceeding converted from a change of plea to a final pre-trial conference. Silva's appointed lawyer, after ably arguing to keep out of evidence some of the death scene photographs, then informed Judge Castel that Silva wanted to fire him.

  Silva, standing in a yellow prison jumpsuit and speaking through a Spanish language interpreter, told Judge Castel that his lawyer only came to visit offering more and more prison time, not help. He would like another lawyer.

  Judge Castel, perusing the docket, said no, trial would proceed on May 2. An Assistant US Attorney, one of the four present - Inner City Press was the only one present in the courtroom gallery - said that plea offers had been extended on May 4, 2022, then October 5, 2022, and finally last week, on April 9. 

 The AUSA asked that Silva be allocuted on the plea agreements - so that he couldn't, if convicted, claim he hadn't understood.

  But it was hard to explain. Under the plea offer, he would still be pleading to the death of Evelyn Vasquez, just not to the statutory mandatory minimum of 20 years. 

 "It's the death that bother me," Silva said. He asked Judge Castel, "If I am found innocent of the death, how much time would you give me?" 

 Judge Castel replied, correctly, that he couldn't say. And with that, the proceeding was over.

  The AUSA said, at the end, that his Office would be asking for a "limited" closure of the courtroom.  Inner City Press has opposed these in the past, perhaps even more so in this case.

On September 27, this cryptic request: "LETTER MOTION addressed to Judge P. Kevin Castel dated 9/27/2023 re: admissibility of statement in OCME Report regarding when victim was last seen alive . Document filed by Raul Silva as to Raul Silva, Roger Bryant."

On October 5, it was filed: from the OCME, re Evelyn Seda-Vasquez: "Decedent was last seen alive at around 5:30 PM the day before... Her daughter Natalie Pula unlocked the decedent's door and found her unresponsive."

And then on October 19, days before the scheduled October 23 trial, Raul Silva pled guilty: "vChange of Plea Hearing as to Raul Silva held on 10/19/2023. Defendant, Raul Silva present. Defendant changes not guilty plea and pleads guilty to Counts One and Two of the Indictment. Defendant admits forfeiture allegations in paragraphs 7, 8, and 9 of the Indictment. Partial Fatico Hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. Sentencing is scheduled for January 24, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. Trial scheduled for October 23, 2023 is vacated."

Then there was a Fatico hearing about "resulting in death." There is a wide range: if Judge Castel finds yes on "resulting in," the range is 292 to 365 months. If not, it's 77 to 96 months. Sentencing is set for February 19 at 2 pm.

On February 16 Silva's lawyer put in his client's February 14 letter asking Judge Castel "to take into consideration my cognitive impairment due to my drug usage."

On February 19, after the sentencing proceeding, the US Attorney's Office put out, "Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RAUL SILVA was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel to 12 years in prison for selling thousands of doses of deadly narcotics, including fentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, and heroin, the use of which resulted in the July 2019 death of a 66-year-old woman, to whom SILVA had sold drugs for years."

More including analysis on Substack here

The case is US v. Silva, 20-cr-120 (Castel)

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA

Mail: Box 130222 NY NY 10017

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

 Copyright 2006-2025 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com