SDNY Hearing On COVID Positive in MDC For Man Who Aided Al Shabaab in Somalia
The hour-long proceeding showed treatment is only aspirin, lack of legal calls and lack of hot water: MDC redux
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive, Patreon
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SDNY COURTHOUSE, Dec 21 – A man who pleaded guilty in 2017 to supporting and fighting for Al-Shabaab in Somalia has now gotten COVID-19 while in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
On December 21, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul G. Gardephe held a proceeding. Inner City Press covered and live tweeted it, here:
Judge Gardephe ordered medical records produced, to a lawyer. US has refused, citing conflict of interest.
Judge Gardephe: My order to produce the medical record was not an invitation for a dialogue - it was an order.
AUSA Andrew DeFilippis: Mr. Jones' COVID test came back positive on Saturday the 17th.
Mr. Wallace: We are worried about how is Jones doing. Wallace: On the 16th he said he had lost his sense of taste and smell. We had interviewed him at his cell's door.
Judge Gardephe: What treatment is he receiving? Wallace: He is getting Tylenol and bed rest. That is what we have at the institution.
Here is letter from docket of this case of Malik Alim Jones being brought to NY for a David re-sentencing, then getting COVID-19 while in the MDC in Bklyn. "When Mr. Jones was told he had tested positive, he was put in a cell with someone else who tested positive" Mr. Jones in the MDC in Brooklyn has "shower day" Monday and Wednesday. On all other days, he says, the water is cold. He says he is freezing inside.
Judge Gardephe: We're dealing with a public health emergency of the sort this nation hasn't dealt with in 100 years. Some recover, others go into rapid decline. It would have been better to obey my order. Your application to modify the order is denied.
The proceeding ended with talk of conflicts of interest alleged by the US Attorney's Office (which also applied to earlier counsel Sean Maher), and how to arrange legal and social calls while in isolation unit in the MDC.
The case is US v. Jones, 16-cr-19 (Gardephe)
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