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by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 15 – In a multi-defendant Bronx gang case, the language of the proposed protective order has given rise to a dispute with briefing to come. 

 On March 23, 2023 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Lewis J. Liman arraigned three of the defendants. Inner City Press went and covered it. 

 All three pleaded not guilty. One defense lawyer disputed including in the protective order a line about witnesses being under threat.

Judge Liman pointed out that in bail proceedings, Magistrate Judge often make such findings. He directed counsel to a recent decision of his on protective order, which he said should be on Westlaw.

   Defense counsel countered with three recent SDNY cases in which such language was not included, two from the White Plains courthouse and one by Judge Hellerstein in 500 Pearl Street. Judge Liman asked for briefing, and set a next conference for May 1.

On April 5, a co-defendant came in: "proceedings held before Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang:Initial Appearance as to Ervin Beamon held on 4/5/2023. Deft. is present with counsel Mr. Zaltzberg; AUSA James Ligtenberg is present. Deft. is detained on consent without prejudice. Conference before USDJ on 5/1/23 with Speedy trial time excluded until such date."

On July 31, as to lead and co-defendant Kevin Perez, the US Attorney's Office wrote in "to inform the Court that the Government will NOT week the death penalty against defendant Kevin Perez in this case."

In September, Judge Liman set the trial and schedule for 2024: "Trial is expected to last approximately 4 weeks. The Court set the following pretrial and trial deadlines at the conference. Defendants' to make their pretrial motions by November 30, 2023. Government's responses due by January 5, 2024. Defendants' replies due by January 19, 2024. A Motion Hearing is scheduled for January 25, 2024 at 11:00AM in Courtroom 15C before Judge Lewis J. Liman. Requests to charge, proposed voir dire and in limine motions are due by August 16, 2024. Objections to requests to charge and proposed voir dire and oppositions to motions in limine are due by August 23, 2024. A Final Pretrial Conference is scheduled for August 28, 2024 at 11:00AM in Courtroom 15C before Judge Lewis J. Liman. A Jury Trial is scheduled for September 9, 2024 at 9:00AM."

On April 15, 2024, counsel for co-defendant Jossi Castro asked for a non-custodial sentence.

 The overall case is US v. Perez, et al., 23-cr-99 (Liman)

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