| Man
Speaking Farsi
Tried For Plot
to Import
Afghan Drugs
to NYC Sees
Photos at
Closing
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 15 – Malek
Mohammad
Balouchzehi is
in trial for
conspiracy to
import
narcotics into
the US from
Mozambique and
elsewhere.
On May 11,
2023, U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York Judge
Jesse M.
Furman was
presiding over
the trial in
large
courtroom 318
in 40 Foley
Square. Inner
City Press
went and
covered
it.
Balouchzehi's
CJA counsel
from Quinn
Emanuel was
cross-examining
the
prosecution's
phone and
photo expert.
It was
established
that while
most photos
taken by a
phone were
stored in the
DCIM folder,
other defaults
can be
set.
Over
objections,
Defense
Exhibit 2C
came in - the
prosecutors
had already
introduced it.
Summations
should be
Monday, May
15.
On
May 12, the
charge
conference was
held. Inner
City Press was
there. The
defense wanted
out the
instruction
about absent
witnesses,
saying they
could not have
called the
Mozambique
undercover,
who was
anonymous. The
prosecution
said they
didn't try.
Judge Furman
to his credit
docketed the
draft charge -
and the jury
questionnaire.
The
US closing on
May 15 had a
video of the
defendant
scrolling
through photos
of drugs - and
the cans of
tuna he
allegedly
shipped them
in - on this
phone. The
quantities
were
astonishing:
500 kilos, $37
million. There
were photos of
the villa in
Kenya where a
meeting was
held. By the
afternoon, the
lawyers waited
in nearly
empty
courtroom 318.
The
case is US v.
Balouchzehi,
21-cr-658
(Furman)
***
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