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Gotham
In The News

At Gotham Government Relations, we take pride in staying ahead of the curve when it comes to policy developments and current events that impact our esteemed clientele and team members. "Gotham In The News" is your go-to page for comprehensive coverage of news articles and videos that directly pertain to our areas of expertise.

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

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

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