| In SDNY 4 Years After Van
Manen Jailed for Heroin his Ineffective
Assistance Motion Denied
By Matthew
Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Aug 23 – In a detailed heroin
dealing prosecution stretching
from Staten Island to Brooklyn
and New Jersey, but prosecuted
in the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York in
Manhattan, on
May 14, 2019
the government
rested its
case with a
slew of
exhibits about
the
defendants'
telephone
practices,
motel stays in
the Circle
Lodge Motel,
and the
amounts of
grams in
bundles of 10
glassine
envelopes,
some cut with
fentanyl.
Two
days later,
one defendant
found guilty
while the
other was
acquitted, see
below.
On June 23,
2020 - more
than a year
later - a
cooperator in
the case
appeared for
sentencing in
a proceeding
which was
public, but
not advertised
- and after
which the
government
asked to seal
the
transcript. It
concerned
Jasmin
Cejovic, whose
lawyer said
everyone in
the MCC knew
was a
cooperator.
Judge
Crotty zeroed
in on the fact
that Cejovic
continued
selling heroin
long after it
killed his
friend. He
sentenced
Cejovic to 48
months,
followed by
three years of
Supervised
Release. Then,
incongruously,
he agreed to
seal the
transcript. We
have have more
on this. This
sub-case is US
v. Cejovic,
18-cr-30-2
(Crotty).
On
May 21, 2020,
in an obscure
telephone
proceeding
amid the
COVID-19
pandemic
cooperating
witness Shaun
Sullivan was
by contrast
given a time
served
sentence and
congratulations.
Then his file
was sealed.
Inner City
Press covered
it - Sullivan
corrected
Judge Crotty,
that Academy
Bus is not for
schools but
Atlantic City.
And so it
goes. The case
is US v.
Sullivan,
18-cr-30-5
(Crotty).
"A
unanimous jury
convicted VAN
MANEN after an
eight-day
trial before
United States
District Judge
Paul A.
Crotty.
Kenneth
Charlton, who
was tried with
VAN MANEN, was
acquitted of
the charge
against
him.
U.S. Attorney
Geoffrey S.
Berman
said:
'As proven at
trial, Paul
Van Manen
peddled poison
to the
community of
Staten Island
and its
vicinity,
causing one of
his many
victims to die
from a tragic
overdose,
despite
knowing of a
non-fatal
overdose just
two months
earlier from
the group’s
drugs.
Today’s
verdict should
send a message
to those who
flood our
community’s
streets with
lethal
drugs.
We will
continue to
work with our
law
enforcement
partners to
prosecute and
convict
criminals
seeking to
profit from
the current
public health
crisis
afflicting our
city.'" Both
defendants had
an air of
victim about
them.
When
one took the
stand and
tried to
testify how
Hurricane
Sandy impacted
him, the
government
objected. Also
to the
defendant's
attempts to
retox, rehab
and get clean.
Likeness to
the effect of
his addition
on his
relation with
his family.
Anything that
might humanize
the defendant
was objected
to, and in
most cases
Judge Paul A.
Crotty
sustained the
objections.
The
jury, however,
seemed more
interested
with each
sustained
objection.
Jump
cut to August
2024 - Van
Manen from BOP
Fort Dix is
applying to
vacate, set
aside or
correct his
sentence,
citing -
allowed out of
time by the
judge to whom
it has been
reassigned,
Arun
Subramanian -
ineffective
assistance of
counsel.
On
August 23
Judge
Subramanian
denied the
motion,
finding inter
alia that
"trial counsel
here
repeatedly
made the
argument
during closing
statements
that someone
other than Van
Manen told
Ogno the drugs
that killed
him."
The
case is US v.
Van Manen et
al., 18-cr-30
(Subramanian)
***
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