Judge: DA didn't ask to continue order protecting witness names

Prosecutors never asked to extend an order — beyond a trial delay — protecting the identity of a witness slain before he could testify against two alleged MS-13 members accused of trying to kill him, a Nassau judge said Thursday.

Police said they recovered the body of witness Wilmer Maldonado Rodriguez, 36, outside an abandoned New Cassel home Sunday following what they described as a deadly bludgeoning. Rodriguez’s identity as a victim and witness initially was under a protective order in the attempted-murder case.

But his name was turned over in December to attorneys for defendants Denis Pineda, 20, and Elian Ramos Velasquez, 19, in anticipation of their planned Jan. 6 trial.

The directive from acting State Supreme Court Justice Helene Gugerty about the disclosure included the restriction that defense attorneys not share victim or witness identities with their clients until that day.

Authorities have alleged Pineda and Rodriguez were among MS-13 members who beat Rodriguez with a bat and stabbed him in October 2018 after he intervened when gang members threatened two boys in New Cassel. They have pleaded not guilty.

Gugerty said Thursday during a conference in the case that the Nassau district attorney’s office “did not request this court to extend its protective order” when the trial didn’t start on time.

The delay happened after the prosecution said “at least two civilian witnesses were unavailable” to testify, according to Gugerty.

“Since the people failed to seek a protective order when the case was first on for trial on Jan. 6, the defense counsels, pursuant to the order, were not obligated to withhold that information,” she added of witness and victim identities.

Even so, defense attorneys for Pineda and Velasquez denied during interviews Wednesday having ever disclosed such information to their clients.

A court transcript shows prosecutor Victoria Mauri told Gugerty during a Jan. 6 conference in Velasquez’s case that she was “OK with everything being discussed with the client, except for the victims’ names.” 

But the prosecution seemed to stop short of asking for a formal order after the judge suggested that both parties first try to reach a stipulation — or agreement.

Velasquez’s lawyer, Justin Feinman, agreed to withhold the names but asked the court's permission to talk to his client about statements by co-defendants. “I submit to the court I will not give my client the victims’ names,” he said, according to the transcript.

“Application granted,” Gugerty told the defense.

Brendan Brosh, a spokesman for Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas, said in a statement Thursday that the transcript "makes clear that both prosecutors and defense counsel agreed that the identities of the victims would not be disclosed."

He added: "Protecting the victims' identity was our goal from the beginning of this case, when we originally sought a protective order for this information, and as the transcript makes clear, never wavered, even after the order was lifted."

Prosecutor Jared Rosenblatt, deputy chief of Singas’ Major Offense bureau, told Gugerty in court Thursday that he and prosecutor Michelle Lewisohn had taken over the case and would ask for another protective order.

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder held a news conference Wednesday about Rodriguez’s slaying, drawing a connection between the homicide and the pre-trial release of his identity to defense attorneys in the attempted murder case.

He said acts of intimidation against witnesses began after the prosecution had to disclose previously sealed evidence.

The top police official and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran also initially linked Rodriguez’s death to new criminal justice reform laws that dictate how evidence is disclosed, but later backtracked.

Feinman and Pineda's attorney, Greg Madey, said in court Thursday they never disclosed any witness or victim information to their jailed clients. 

Madey also pointed out that when it came to witnesses, identified as "seasonal workers," even the prosecution couldn't locate some of them. He said that made him question Singas' statement Wednesday that Rodriguez had been “prepared to testify" before he "was brutally beaten to death." 

The statement also said her office kept Rodriguez’s identity confidential by obtaining a protective order in December 2018 “but his identity was disclosed pursuant to a judge’s order in December 2019.”

Feinman said an “insinuation” by the district attorney and police commissioner that there may have been “some impropriety” by defense attorneys was false. “Any office or agency that seeks to politicize a tragedy for their own political gain … saying ‘This is a result of the law’ is … wrong,” he added.

But John Byrne, an executive assistant district attorney in Singas’ office, responded later Thursday that “allegations that the District Attorney tied this tragedy to new laws are belied by the text of her statement” and prosecutors have "no reason to believe defense attorneys didn't protect victims' identities." 

He further said “the court transcript clearly contradicts the judge’s assertion today that defense attorneys were not obligated to protect the victims’ identities.”