Opinion
19-CR-752 (JMF)
08-27-2021
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. CHRISTOPHER ANSAH, Defendant.
SCHEDULING ORDER
JESSE M. FURMAN, United States District Judge:
As counsel presumably know, this District has reconfigured courtrooms and other spaces in its courthouses to allow jury trials to proceed as safely as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the centralized calendaring system currently in place, the Clerk's Office schedules up to three jury trials to begin on each day of jury selection: a primary case and up to two back-up cases that may proceed in its place if the primary case does not go forward.
In connection with that process, trial in this case has been scheduled to begin on October 4, 2021. The case is second on the list of jury trials for that day, which means that it will proceed on that date if and only if the other trial scheduled for that day goes away. The Court will advise the parties as soon as it knows whether the case will commence on that date or not. Unless and until the Court orders otherwise, however, the parties shall be prepare d to proceed to trial on that date. Put differently: Assuming the case before it goes away, and this case has not been resolved, trial will begin on October 4, 2021. To that extent, it is a firm trial date.
In the event that the trial cannot proceed on October 4, 2021, the Court may be able to reschedule trial to begin on December 8, 2021. (The alternative would be to request a new trial date for the first quarter of 2022.) Accordingly, unless the parties have a conflict on that date already, they should keep the week of December 8, 2021, available for trial.
Unless and until the Court orders otherwise, any proposed voir dire, proposed jury instructions, and proposed verdict forms, as well as any motions in limine or trial memoranda, shall be filed by noon on September 24, 2021. Any opposition to a motion in limine or trial memorandum shall be filed by noon on September 27, 2021.
In accordance with the Court's Individual Rules and Practices for Criminal Cases, available at http://nysd.uscourts.gov/judge/Furman, a party must submit one courtesy hard copies of these documents to the Court at the time of filing. In addition, the proposed voir dire, proposed jury instructions, and proposed verdict forms must be e-mailed, in Microsoft Word format, to FurmanNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov.
It is further ORDERED that the parties appear for a final pretrial conference on October 1, 2021, at 10:30 a.m. Unless and until the Court orders otherwise, the conference will be held in Courtroom 1105 of the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse, 40 Centre Street, New York, New York 10007. The final pretrial conference must be attended by the attorney who will serve as principal trial counsel.
The parties must familiarize themselves with the Court's Individual Rules and Practices for Trials, available at http://nysd.uscourts.gov/judge/Furman.
SO ORDERED.