Opinion
16-CR-387 (JMF)
03-15-2022
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. LUIS BLONDET and JULIO MARQUEZ-ALEJANDRO, Defendant.
ORDER
JESSE M. FURMAN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE:
This Order addresses various items that were left open at the final pretrial conference or have come up since that time, to wit:
• For reasons the Court will explain on the record tomorrow morning, the Government's motion in limine to admit evidence of the murders predating the formation of La ONU is GRANTED. The parties should confer with respect to appropriate limiting instructions and submit agreed-upon instructions or competing instructions before openings.
• The Court will grant Defendants two extra peremptory strikes and the Government one extra peremptory strike with respect to the regular jury, so that Defendants will jointly have twelve strikes and the Government will have seven strikes and the regular jury will be selected from the first 31 jurors qualified. Each side will then have two peremptory strikes with respect to the alternate jurors, who will be selected from qualified jurors numbered 32 to 39. The parties will exercise their peremptory strikes simultaneously in accordance with the Court's standard procedures.
• The Court has confirmed that Defendants will be permitted by the MDC to use their laptops to access discovery over the weekends during trial.
• The Court has confirmed that Defendants will be permitted to transport between Court and the MDC a limited number of legal papers - so long as they are loose and do not have staples, clips, or the like.
• With respect to Defendants' letter at ECF No. 669, the Court had purposely renumbered the Counts to avoid any speculation on the part of jurors that there were additional charges filed against Defendants. The parties should be prepared to address the issue tomorrow morning.
• The Court understands that counsel for Mr. Blondet was not permitted to deliver clothes for trial to the MDC and will provide them to Mr. Blondet tomorrow morning when he is in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service. Counsel should arrive early to ensure that there are no problems and that Mr. Blondet is able to change before Court begins.
As the Court noted at the final pretrial conference, the parties shall appear in Courtroom 20B of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m.
The Clerk of Court is directed to terminate ECF No. 590.
SO ORDERED.