Source: https://www.topnewyorkcriminalattorneysblog.com/category/criminal-defense
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 04:31:40+00:00

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Khari Noerdlinger was fully vindicated inside the Bergen County Courthouse today: a manslaughter charge which had been dismissed in September by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office due to prosecutorial misconduct and perjury by the case detective in the grand jury, led to today’s agreement by the prosecutors to dismiss the remaining weapons and obstruction of justice charges once Khari completes six months of pretrial intervention which includes some community service and drug testing. Khari will be left with no criminal record from the incident of January 31, 2016 in which he was attacked by three armed men outside his home, two with knives. In addition, we will initiate a lawsuit on behalf of Khari against the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Assistant Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer and Detective James Costello of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. Furthermore, Khari’s attorney Jeffrey Lichtman will seek the disbarment of Grootenboer and will request a criminal investigation of Grootenbeor and Costello for their misconduct and perjury. Sworn to uphold the law, Grootenbeor and Costello will now be forced themselves to face justice.
Today’s court action ended nearly two years of a legal nightmare for Khari which began when he was attacked by three armed men in Edgewater, New Jersey. Khari was lucky to survive the attack; while one of the attackers was killed as Khari defended himself, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office did the unthinkable: it treated Khari as a criminal and charged him with the homicide of one of his attackers – while simultaneously charging his attackers with armed robbery of Khari. Of course, this inconsistency made little sense and it was not until the grand jury minutes were released did we learn how the seemingly impossible occurred: the grand jury was misled by Assistant Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer and Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Detective James Costello. During his grand jury testimony, Costello stated that Khari was attacked by three men carrying just a single, “long, cylindrical object” as a weapon – and that Khari was not injured at all, that he had not a scratch on his body from the attack as evidenced by pictures taken of Khari’s body following his arrest by members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.
Jeffrey Lichtman has been retained to represent Joaquin Guzman in connection with his upcoming federal narcotics trial in the Eastern District of New York.
“Mr. Guzman has been subjected to the worst prison conditions I have ever seen in 27 years of visiting prisons all over the world. In the nearly seven months he has been detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, he has had not contact with any member of his family, either by mail, phone or in a visit; has not had contact with any inmates and spends 23 hours a day locked up in a cell with limited reading material. His only human contact is with prison guards who do not speak his native Spanish and attorneys who must communicate with him – and review voluminous discovery with him – through glass. I have spent approximately 100 hours with Mr. Guzman and have yet to shake his hand.
“In addition, due to the failure of the government to provide security clearance to any of his relatives, he has not even been able to make arrangements to retain a private attorney – despite the government’s insistence that he should not be permitted to continue to be represented by the Federal Defenders of New York, taxpayer-funded attorneys. The government, while claiming that Mr. Guzman is capable and thus required to hire private counsel, has not promised not to seek forfeiture of this fee. After seven months wasting away in prison, Mr. Guzman will finally be able to hire the legal counsel of his choice, seven months too late.
This past spring I wrote about the case of NYPD detective Yatyu Yam, accused by prosecutors of bribery and official misconduct charges relating to allegations he tipped off the owners of karaoke bars in Queens in exchange for cash bribes. NYPL § 200.11, NYPL § 105.10(1), NYPL § 200.25, NYPL § 195.00(1), NYPL § 195.05 and NYPL § 105.00. What was particularly odious about this case was what occurred upon Detective Yam’s arrest: instead of being processed and brought before a judge to be arraigned, Detective Yam was taken to a secret hotel room where he was interrogated for hours without counsel present, in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 444 (1966). When he did ask for an attorney – his union lawyer – he was told to instead hire a private lawyer out of the Yellow Pages, as an NYPD sergeant and captain told him that they were concerned Yam’s union lawyer would steer him away from cooperating in the case. This order came, as tapes of the interrogation revealed – from the very Assistant District Attorney who was prosecuting Detective Yam.
Falsely Accused of a Crime? Extorted or Harassed by a Lunatic? Fight Back!

References: § 200
 § 105
 § 200
 § 195
 § 195
 § 105
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