| Narco
Tomas Colon
Sealed
Sentencing
Memo Inner
City Press
Opposed Now
Unsealing
Order
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 29 – The entire sentencing
submission by Tomas Colon,
described as the "leader of a
major drug trafficking
organization," was filed under
seal on November 16, 2023.
That evening,
Inner City Press wrote to U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Valerie E. Caproni
questioning and challenging
the sealing.
On November
20, Judge Caproni ordered the
defense to by November 28
"show cause why he should not
be required to file a public
version of his sentencing
submission redacted only to
protect sensitive information
that is not already public."
Colon's sentencing was pushed
back to December 1.
On November 27
Colon's counsel asked to seal
even his response to the OTSC.
Inner City Press filed
opposition, which Judge
Caproni docketed and denied
the sealing: Order and
filing on DocumentCloud here.
Later on
November 28, Colon's
late-coming counsel Robert
Blossner wrote in, seeming to
argue that the memo and all
letters are sealed because
Colon held a proffer session,
and blaming Inner City Press
for having reported statements
made in open court during the
sentencing of another of his
paying clients, Ahrman Burke
(21-cr-550-VM), who cooperated
against Alec Dupuis
(21-cr-707-JSR).
Inner City Press reiterated
that the sentencing material
should be unsealed.
On November 29,
Judge Caproni ruled: "WHEREAS
Mr. Colon’s primary stated
reason for sealing — that he
agreed to be debriefed by the
Government — was already made
public by Mr. Colon in his
initial request to seal the
sentencing submission, see
Dkt. 407 (“The need to file
[the submission] under seal is
due to defendant’s agreement
to be debriefed by the
government.”); WHEREAS on
November 28, 2023, the Court
received the attached email
from Matthew Lee of Inner City
Press responding to Mr.
Colon’s stated reasons for
sealing; WHEREAS there is no
legal basis to seal
information that has been
voluntarily made public, see
Fernandez v. United States,
No. 12-CR-445 (JMF), 2016 WL
4735370, at *7 (S.D.N.Y. Sept.
12, 2016) (denying request to
seal based on defendant’s
attempted cooperation where
other publicly filed documents
already disclosed that
information). IT IS HEREBY
ORDERED that by no later than
Thursday, November 30, 2023,
Mr. Colon must file a public
version of his sentencing
submission that uses
redactions to protect
sensitive information that is
not already public, e.g.,
details of Defendant’s
daughter’s medical issues;
contact information for
individuals who submitted
letters on Defendant’s behalf.
The Court reiterates that the
fact that Mr. Colon was
debriefed by the Government
was already made public by Mr.
Colon himself and therefore
may not be redacted." Watch
this site.
This comes
as, for example, all of the
sentencing letters of OneCoin
crypto currency fraudster
Sebastian Greenwood were
sealed, regarding which Inner
City Press filed a notice of
appeal, and has consented to
email service.
Sentencing
materials must be public, to
understand the bases of
sentencing. Watch this site.
This case
is US v. Colon, 18-cr-526
(Caproni)
***
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