Opinion
Crim 2:23-cr-00277-SDW
04-06-2023
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. Yezenia Castillo
ORDER REGARDING USE OF VIDEO CONFERENCING/TELECONFERENCING FOR FELONY PLEAS AND/OR SENTENCINGS
HONORABLE SUSAN D. WIGENTON, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
In accordance with the operative COVID-19 standing orders, this Court finds:
[√] That the Defendant (or the Juvenile) has consented to the use of video teleconferencing/teleconferencing to conduct the proceeding(s) held today, after consultation with counsel; and
[√] That the proceeding(s) to be held today cannot be further delayed without serious harm to the interests of justice, for the following specific reasons:
Accordingly, the proceeding(s) held on this date may be conducted by:
[√] Video Teleconferencing
[ ] Teleconferencing, because video teleconferencing is not reasonably available for the following reason:
[ ] The Defendant (or the Juvenile) is detained at a facility lacking video teleconferencing capability.
[ ] Other
ATTACHMENT A
The Court finds that the plea hearing to be held on April 6, 2023, cannot be further delayed without serious harm to the interests of justice, for the following reasons:
1. To ensure that the Court is not overwhelmed by cases and proceedings at the conclusion of this period of emergency. Currently, District Judges in New Jersey handle a substantially larger docket of cases than Judges in other Districts in the United States. New criminal cases continue to be assigned by the Court during the Covid-19 emergency. If the Court cannot resolve matters now by plea, the resulting backlog will overwhelm the Court's ability to function effectively.
2. To permit defendant to enter a plea of guilty and obtain a speedy resolution of her case. Defendant has asked for this case to be resolved today by way of a hearing.
3. To permit the Government to obtain a resolution of the case so that the Government, already operating in a restricted capacity due to the emergency, may appropriately focus its resources on other, emerging criminal matters. The Government has asked for this case to be resolved today by way of a timely plea hearing.