| Spiegelman Couldn't Go to
Russia to Renounce Citizenship No Free Lawyer
for Probation Beef
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Aug 13 – Daniel Spiegelman
absconded from the Bronx
Reentry Center half-way house
-- on October 4, 2012, more
than eight years ago.
On November
13 U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge John P. Cronan held a
change of plea proceeding.
Inner City Press covered
it.
Spiegelman said
that back in 2012 he had a
case of the tremors and left
the halfway house to get
medical attention. Then he
never went back, instead
moving to Brooklyn. He had
multiple aliases.
Now he had a
Pimintel letter and awaited
sentencing, on February 19,
2021. Judge Cronan said he
hoped it would be in person.
It was
not. But Inner City Press
covered it - and dug into it.
While the 1999 SDNY case
against Speigelman is not a
live link in PACER, there's
this: "In the spring of 1994,
Daniel Spiegelman shinnied up
an abandoned book lift in
Columbia University's Butler
Library, dismantled a wall,
stole books."
On February
19 Spiegelman was sentenced to
a year and a day and then
three years of supervised
release.
It was on that
supervised release that
Spiegelman sought to leave the
US to renounce his
citizenship. On July 28, 2023,
this was denied: "ORDER as to
Daniel Spiegelman is presently
serving concurrent five-year
and three-year terms of
supervised release, the first
of which was imposed in No. 10
Cr. 339, following his plea of
guilty to three counts of bank
fraud, identity theft, and
possession of false
identification documents. As a
condition of each term of
supervised release, Mr.
Kikabidze must remain within
the judicial district of his
residencein this case, the
Southern District of New York
absent permission from the
Court or from his probation
officer to leave it.
Therefore, Mr. Kikabidze's
request to modify the
conditions of his supervised
release imposed in No. 10 Cr.
339 and No. 20 Cr. 609 to
allow his travel to Russia to
relinquish his United States
citizenship is denied."
Docketed on
October 26: "Minute Entry for
proceedings held before Judge
John P. Cronan: Status
Conference as to Daniel
Spiegelman held on 10/18/2023.
Conference as to Daniel
Spiegelman held concerning his
alleged violations of
supervised release. On
Probation's application, the
Court dismissed all
specifications without
prejudice."
But it was not
over. On July 26 Spiegelman as
a/k/a Daniel Kikabidze wrote
in that his Probation officer
showed up while he was in the
shower. He asked for 10 to 15
minutes but was refused, he
says. Then he was threatened
with an ankle bracelet. He
asks for a lawyer, and an
order suspending all contact
with Probation "pending a
resolution of this matter in
Court."
On August 13,
Judge Cronan ruled that no
right to free counsel
attaches: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT as
to Daniel Spiegelman on re:
[58] Letter, filed by Daniel
Spiegelman...ENDORSEMENT...A
defendant does not have a
constitutional right to
appointed counsel merely
because he is serving a term
of supervised release. Cf.
United States v. Pelensky, 129
F.3d 63, 68 n.8 (2d Cir.1997)
(Among the fundamental
constitutional protections
that do not apply in the
context of supervised release
revocation proceedings [is]...
the right to counsel."). If
financially eligible, a
defendant does have a
statutory right to appointed
counsel at a revocation
hearing. See 18 U.S.C. §
3006A(a)(1)(E) (Representation
shall be provided for any
financially eligible person
who... is charged with a
violation of supervised
release or faces modification,
reduction, or enlargement of a
condition, or extension or
revocation of a term of
supervised release). But the
Probation Office has not filed
a petition charging Defendant
with a violation of his
supervised release or
otherwise seeking a
modification of the terms of
that release. Nor has
Defendant provided any reason
for the Court to appoint
counsel, or otherwise alter
the conditions of his current
supervision, based on his
description of his supposed
encounters with the Probation
Officers mentioned in his July
15, 2024 letter. See Dkt. 58.
Accordingly, Defendants
requests for the appointment
of counsel and for suspension
of his contact with the
Probation Office are denied
(Signed by Judge John P.
Cronan on 8/12/24)."
The case is US v.
Spiegelman, 20-cr-603
(Cronan)
***
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