Inside View: Percocet Princess, From #EndlessSentences by Matthew Russell Lee
Coverage compared to that Billy Ortega, convicted of killing three and now awaiting sentencing - from #EndlessSentences, more here below the fold / paywall line
Fentanyl was everywhere but in the courtroom where those who sold it were prosecuted for murder, there were no people, most times.
So it was for the man named Gonzalez, facing a mandatory ten years for fentanyl in the heroin he sold. So too at the trial of Billy Ortega, 25-year mandatory minimum for fentanyl in the cocaine that his man from the Chelsea projects delivered to condos and hotels in Lower Manhattan.
But now that Robert De Niro's grandson had died, from a delivery of oxy by an Uber to an Airbnb in lower Manhattan that the Complaint left unidentified, there was interest. The girl - she was 20 but looked 14 - who sold the tainted oxy was quickly dubbed the Percocet Princess and now everyone wanted to know when she would be in the SDNY Magistrates Court.
The answer was 2:30 pm, Pre-Trial Services' report on the bail factors wasn't ready yet. Upstairs on the 14th story was the Israel Garcia murder trial. This was about drugs and death but more direct: with a gun, on Morris Avenue, the shooter wearing blue New Balance. Had this blue-sneaker shooter been Garcia, later to become a school guidance counselor? That was about the trial was about, and half of it was sealed.
At 2:30 down in the Mag court, Sophia Haley Marks was brought in, like a junior high school student going into detention. Robert De Niro, needless to say, did not come. Marks was assigned a Federal Defender, she'd done murder cases for the Bronx Defenders and now was done here in SDNY, getting people out on bail.
Judge Ona T. Wang asked Marks if she'd seen the complaint - yes - and if she wanted it read out loud in court. No. She would set the date for a preliminary hearing after she heard about bail or detention. Government?
The Assistant US Attorney said his Office would be seeking detention - as they hadn't on Sam Bankman-Fried - but he understood that the defendant would be consenting. Without prejudice, of course. Never prejudice, not here.
The Federal Defender confirmed it. The Marks family, which according to the Complaint had also consented to the police searching their daughter's bedroom where they found one drawer full of cash, another full of pills (but no guns), would be seeking to retain counsel.
Apparently they had money, even though Judge Ona T. Wang had just found Sophia Marks financially eligible for a public defender. No matter. The Marshals took Marks back out through the side door.
"Where is she going?" the Federal Defender was asked.
She said she didn't know, and couldn't comment anyone since she didn't really represent her, only for this proceeding. She headed back out onto Pearl Street, and west to their office on Duane. There were photographers outside, in case Sophia Marks got released on bail or, God forbid, Robert De Niro showed up. He did not.
#EndlessSentences - more below the fold / paywall line
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