| For Mrabet Trial US Got OK
to Seal Courtroom Then Guilty now 2d Victim
Impact Statement
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY COURT
EXCLUSIVE, March 21 - In
the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York on January 5, a bond or
detention proceeding was held
by Magistrate Judge Sarah
Netburn for Mounir Mrabet,
charged with narcotics
conspiracy.
Inner City Press
was present as the only media
in the Mag Court. Related
Mag Court live-tweeted
thread (more on Patreon
here)
vlog here
Mrabet was in a white t-shirt;
he had been arrested at 6 in
the morning. He consented to
detention without prejudice.
On May 11, 2023,
Mrabet appeared before the
assigned District Judge, Jed
S. Rakoff. Trial was set for
August 8, and discovery
production to the MDC was
discussed.
Then Mrabet's
counsel asked for release on
bail. The AUSA replied that
Mrabet had 10 kilos of meth
and seven phones; 20 arrests,
four felonies.
Judge Rakoff said
it seemed clear, but for the
increasing danger in the MDC.
He said in some of his cases,
defendants have been moved to
other facilities. No
commitment to make that
recommendation was made by the
AUSA. Mrabet remains detained.
Jump cut to June
29, 2023 - Mrabet was back in
court, this time being allowed
to fire his CJA lawyer (who
nevertheless continued to make
discovery arguments on his
bahalf). Mrabet, speaking for
himself, described lock-downs
in the MDC and the difficulty
of getting discovery on a
laptop - he wanted it printed
out. Judge Rakoff ordered the
print outs. The AUSA said she
would look into it - and that
a superseding indictment had
been added.
On July 5 Judge
Rakoff approved the US
Attorney's Office proposal to
put all the iCloud text
messages on a laptop and FedEx
it to Mrabet in the MDC,
rather than 30 bankers boxes
of print-outs which FedEx said
would cost over $50,000. The
US says this "eliminates the
delay of awaiting a CJA-funded
laptop from the defense."
A new CJA
lawyer was appointed, and on
July 14 Judge Rakoff set a new
trial date: November 6, 2023.
On August 4 the
new CJA lawyer moved to
suppress, declaring that
Detective Mark Gurleski
obtained the warrant based on
false statements and annexing
NYPD records of interviews
about Hyatt room 3344 and a
storage locker at 501 Tenth
Avenue.
On November 2,
2023, the US Attorney's Office
wrote in seeking to have the
courtroom sealed during the
trial, for UC-1 who they want
to leave unnamed, or with
pseudonym. They got it
approved: "ORDER as to Mounir
Mrabet: The Government's
request for limited closure of
the courtroom is GRANTED. The
Government's request for UC-1
to testify at trial using only
a pseudonym, is GRANTED.
(Signed by Judge Jed S. Rakoff
on 11/3/2023)."
They claim an
audio feed will be available
(as for example SDNY District
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer
provided in another case Inner
City Press wrote in about) -
and that "the Government would
make the daily transcript of
IC-1's testimony available to
the public through the court
reporter's office."
On November 7,
Inner City Press found
Courtroom 14B locked midday.
It returned at 2 pm and
entered the courtroom, only to
be told to leave, that an
audio feed was available in
23B. But that was locked (as
were 24B and 26B, which Inner
City Press checked). It was
after 3 pm when the sealing
without audio ended, and a DEA
expert got on the stand.
A note was left.
Even as to a
belated transcript - at how
high a cost? Can that really
be called publicly available?
Some Districts provide an
online list of all proceedings
for which closure is sought.
Here, nothing --
and on November
9, amid an unrelated JPM Chase
settlement with David Boies,
guilty verdicts against
Mrabet, sentencing set for
February 12, 2024.
On December 19,
Judge Rakoff docketed the
outcome of a conference: "The
Government may submit a letter
brief, of up to five
single-spaced pages, by
12/29/2023 regarding whether
the Court should permit
non-statutory victims to be
heard at Mrabet's sentencing.
Defense counsel may submit a
responsive letter brief, of up
to five single-spaced pages,
by 1/12/2024."
The prosecutors'
December 29 letter recounts
the overdose deaths in room
3344 of the Hyatt Grand
Central Hotel on July 29-30,
2022 and cites US v. Sica (2d
Cir. 2017)
On March 15, 2024
the US Attorney's Office,
noting the 15 year minimum,
asked for 30 to life,
attaching a Victim Impact
Statement from the mother of
the deceased: "all you see is
money you have made because
you do not have a conscience
at all. I wish you no mercy."
On March 20 the
US Attorney's Office put in
another victim impact
statement, from the father of
a deceased: "He had plans to
become a professional hockey
player. I would ask the Court
to do whatever it can to
eliminate the evil"
The case is US v.
Mrabet, 23-cr-69 (Rakoff)
***
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