Suspect In Deadly NYC Subway Fire Indicted On Murder & Arson Charges. Analysis With David Schwartz, NY Trial Attorney, Lobbyist, & President of Gotham Government Relations ‪@livenowfox‬

Youtube transcript
0:03 reporting the illegal migrant 0:04 accused of burning a New 0:05 York City. subway Rider to 0:07 death on Sunday. that 0:09 migrant has been indicted 0:10 on murder charges. 0:12 Sebastian, zapeta indicted 0:13 on 1, count of Murder 0:14 in the first degree. 3 0:16 counts of murder in the 0:17 Second degree and 1 count 0:18 of arson, this after a 0:20 woman was lit on fire. and 0:22 burned to death on a 0:23 subway train in Brooklyn 0:25 New York. Now, the 0:26 indictment was filed 0:27 Thursday and was unsealed 0:29 at an arraignment hearing 0:31 that will actually happen 0:31 on January. 7th. Sea's 0:34 attorney telling the judge,
0:35 he spoke with his client 0:36 Friday, in Acts 0:38 for permission to wave his 0:40 client's appearance. So a 0:41 lot going on, the judge did 0:43 Grant that request. as we 0:45 further discuss. uh, this 0:46 topic we want to bring an 0:47 expert 0:48 into the conversation. None 0:50 other than David Schwarz, 0:51 New York, attorney. Uh, David 0:54 good morning to you. Thank 0:55 you so much for joining us 0:56 again to discuss this 0:57 topic. Good morning. So 0:59 David, I know you've 1:00 worked closely 1:02 with uh, the Brooklyn 1:03 da, Eric Gonzalez. I set the 1:04 stage for us. What happened 1:05 yesterday? how did we get
1:06 to this point? sure, this 1:08 is my former Office of 1:10 the Brooklyn DA's office. 1:11 and so what happened? and 1:13 this is what happens in 1:15 every case, That's in the 1:17 grand jury. That's awaiting 1:19
felony charges. So you 1:20 have the grand jury that 1:21 works separate from the 1:23 court and on Thursday 1:24 night. um, evidence was 1:26 presented all week to the 1:27 grand jury and on Thursday 1:29
night the grand jury voted 1:30 to indict on Murder 1:32 in the first degree. Murder 1:33 in the second degree. and 1:35 for arson. Nothing 1:37 unexpected whatsoever. The 1:38 fact that the attorney 1:40 waived the client's 1:41 appearance, in court is is 1:44 completely normal In a 1:45 case like this and all 1:47 that. happened was that the 1:49 case got extracted. from 1:51 Criminal Court, which is 1:53 where they where they would 1:55 decide in this court part. 1:56 where to send the case, and 1:58 now it's going to Supreme 1:59 Court, which is where all 2:00 the felonies are handled. 2:02 in New York. And in Supreme 2:05 Court. the the defendant 2:07 will have a Felony, 2:09 arraignment. David, a lot 2:12 of eyes on this case. as 2:14 this isn't something you 2:15 hear or see. uh, every 2:17 day, especially there in 2:18 the Big Apple. a lot of 2:19
eyes looking ahead to the 2:21 new year. Uh, January 7th, 2:23 when that arraignment 2:24 hearing, uh, will be held 2:25 a lot of terminology that 2:26 many people might not 2:27 understand. So, could you 2:28 break that down? What is 2:29 an arraignment hearing? And 2:30 what is expected to 2:31 happen, then? Sure. So the 2:33 uh, arraignment is where the 2:35 the charges are read to the 2:37 defendant and people are 2:38
probably wondering well 2:39 he just had an arraignment 2:40 right, Didn't he get an 2:41 arraignment? already? He 2:42 had an arraignment on the 2:44 complaints and that was 2:46 pre-grand jury. pre-. The 2:48
grand jury voting out 2:49 Felony charges, which has 2:50 to happen in every single 2:52 case. So then the case was 2:54 presented and now he's 2:55 going to be arraigned on a 2:56 new accusatory instrument, 2:58
which is called an 3:00 indictment And so the 3:01 indictment will be read3:02 to the defendant in court, 3:04 of course, the defendant 3:05 could waive the reading 3:06 of the entire indictment, 3:08 the judge will ask the 3:09 defendant. Uh, how does he 3:11 plead? He's going to say 3:12 not guilty. and then the 3:14
judge is going to set a a 3:16 various schedules. motion. 3:18 schedules. uh, discovery 3:21 schedules. and the case 3:22 will start and it will 3:24 move down the process. And 3:25 we'll see a lot of motions 3:27 A lot of hearings. A lot of 3:29 um, items that the defense 3:30 attorney will try to do 3:32 to protect His client's 3:33
rights in the case. And uh, 3:35 and then of course, we're 3:36 gonna have all the pre-trial 3:37 hearings and then it's 3:38 going to lead to a trial 3:40 or a plea bargain. Uh, 3:43 with this specific case, uh, 3:44 the person the suspect 3:45 they're on the screen being 3:46 referred to as an illegal 3:48 migrant. Do you think that 3:49 plays a role in how this 3:51 will play out? Uh, the 3:52 viewers have been talking? 3:53 Uh this has been top of 3:54 mind. They're saying, okay 3:55 with him not being uh, of 3:57 legal status here in 3:58
America, Does that play a 3:59 part in? how this judicial 4:00 process will play out? 4:01 Even if he, uh, doesn't 4:02 speak English? Well. plenty 4:06 of defendants don't speak 4:07 English and that's why they
4:08 have interpreters. So 4:09 there's an interpreter in 4:10 the picture that you just 4:11 showed at defense table. 4:12 So, the defendant will be 4:14 entitled to an interpreter 4:15 throughout all the 4:17 proceedings of this case. 4:19 And, and everything will 4:20 be interpreted. as far as 4:22 the migrant status goes. 4:24 the, on the criminal case. 4:25 it's not going to have 4:26 much an effect whatsoever. 4:28 The only time that has an 4:29 effect is after the 4:31 defendant is released from 4:32 jail. the defendant would 4:33 then be deported for a 4:36 felony. but in this type of 4:37 case, if he's convicted of 4:39 Murder in the first degree
4:40 and he's going to serve a 4:41 life sentence without 4:42 parole. the migrant status. 4:45 really uh, won't play any 4:46 type of role in this case, 4:48 whatsoever. Uh, David. 4:51 Lastly, I wanted to ask you 4:52
about Bond and how that 4:54 relates to this case uh, 4:55 viewers wanting to know uh 4:57 the possibility of that, Uh 4:58 it being revoked, how that 5:00 plays a role. uh Flight 5:02 Risk. We've heard those uh 5:04 terms being used. Could you 5:05 provide all of those 5:06 scenarios? The there. There 5:08 is no bond in the case. 5:09 the the defendant has been 5:12 remanded and the defendant 5:14 will remain. on remand. 5:16 status based on the 5:18 seriousness and the the 5:20 penis. act that he 5:21 committed, Uh there's no
5:23 way any judge in Brooklyn. 5:25 is going to allow this 5:26 defendant to obtain any 5:28 kind of bond, I think that's 5:30 a non-issue in this case. 5:33 Davis Schwarz. Always a 5:34 pleasure. Thank you so much 5:35 for joining us a second day 5:36 to further. Dissect this 5:38 case again our viewers have 5:39 been keeping 5:41 a close eye on the And 5:41 you can see why I mean, uh, 5:42 it's very emotional for 5:44 many And then, of course, 5:45 uh, of course, how low an 5:47 order. uh works out with 5:48 the judicial system. 5:49 Thank you so much for joining 5:50 us and happy holidays