Joshua Schulte Case Update
I’ve followed this case since it’s inception circa 2017 - and I’m not redoing my Twitter research but let’s go ahead and catch you up, shall we?
With out regurgitating nearly four years of research - here’s a current state of play
Schulte moved to dismiss the “hacking charges” the corner stone of his argument was the USAO-SDNY had improperly sought a superseding indictment in White Plains versus NYC. At the time I believe I said this is one of the weakest arguments to make because the SDNY includes portions of NYC and (more importantly) White Plains1 - the crux of Schulte’s argument was White Plains excluded Hispanic and African American jurors.
The Judge REJECTED Schulte’s argument:
There was nothing improper about the Government seeking a superseding indictment in White Plains NY (which is in fact part of the SDNY) —the Court found (as previously pointed out) that in June of 2020 the Manhattan Courthouse all but ceased in person hearings. This included Grand Juries.
Because SDNY has two “master wheels” -I tweeted about this a lot in late 2020 found here or here and there are in fact Federal Criminal Rules of Procedure that govern jury selection
The calculation that Schulte gambled on was White Plains versus Manhattan gave him leverage to seek a dismissal of the hacking charges. Again not to belabor this point - the main tenet of Schulte’s argument was fatally flawed, the prosecution sought a Superseder from White Plains versus Manhattan. But failed to acknowledge that White Plains is in the Southern District of New York
Quick Primer Duren Elements - in non-legalese the Court is bound by both precedence and the type of scrutiny when evaluating claims Schulte made.
Duran the Sixth Amendment’s Impartiality Clause2 requires that venires for criminal juries be fairly cross-sectional over time.
Duren v. Missouri, criminal defendants can argue that: (1) a “group alleged to be excluded is a ‘distinctive’ group”; (2) the group is underrepresented, meaning that its long-term representation in the relevant jurisdiction’s venires is not “fair and reasonable in relation to the number of such persons in the community”; and (3) “this underrepresentation is due to systematic exclusion”—that is, exclusion “inherent in the particular jury- selection process utilized.”
Once these three prongs have been satisfied, a prima facie fair cross section (FCS) claim has been established, at which point the government must justify the underrepresentation by citing a “significant state interest,” or the defendant is entitled to a new trial.
The Court ruled that Schulte failed to make a showing under the second element of Duren (as noted above)
The Court ruled that not only did Schulte fail to meet the second element but his argument under “systematic exclusion” was actually foreclosed because he failed to satisfy the second element
Moving on - the Court all but eviscerated Schulte’s sprawling and at time’s illogical arguments. One way to explain this is because COVID-19 was/is a temporary issue but considered a factor under the “external forces principle” - meaning COVID-19 closures is not something the Prosecution could control
The Court also held that Schulte’s claims JSSA failed to meet the “substantial failure to comply” and noted that because Schulte’s claims under the Duren elements failed that it foreclosed his ability to reargue the same claims under JSSA.
And lastly as Orders/Memorandums go this particular Judge does an extraordinary job of presenting his analysis and afforded the Defendant deference but in the end the Defendant’s arguments failed to meet the prerequisite criteria
Link to tonight’s order ECF or highlighted and annotated via my public drive oh and for the record Schulte’s second trial has been continued until October 2021, Oder via ECF
and with that - I believe that you are all caught up. -Filey
See SDNY CourtHouses Location - last visited March 24, 2021 https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/courthouses
Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357 (1979) - Oyez - last visited March 24, 2021 https://www.oyez.org/cases/1978/77-6067
TY!!