Pretrial Conference, Before Chief Judge George Levi Russell III — United States v. Ryan E. Dales (Document 91)
Summary
Transcript of a pretrial conference on October 28, 2024, in Baltimore before Chief Judge George Levi Russell III in United States of America v. Ryan E. Dales, Case No. 1:23-cr-00026-GLR-1, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, filed 11/21/24 as Document 91. Paul Anthony Riley and Reema Sood appear for the government and Richard B. Bardos for the defendant, with Special Agent Brian Gorman of the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, and Special Agent Summer Baugh of the FBI present. Mr. Bardos states no opposition to the government's motion in limine, which the Court grants as unopposed. The Court sets the guns and narcotics trial to begin on December 2nd and discusses the fraud case for the week of January 13th. The transcript closes with a discussion of a stipulation on the defendant's prior conviction and a certificate by Patricia Klepp.
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“Pretrial Conference, Before Chief Judge George Levi Russell III — United States v. Ryan E. Dales (Document 91).”
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Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 1 of 29
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1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
2 NORTHERN DIVISION
_______________________________
3 )
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA )
4 )
v. ) Case No. 1:23-cr-00026-GLR-1
5 )
RYAN E. DALES, )
6 Defendant. )
_______________________________)
7
Baltimore, Maryland
8 October 28, 2024
10:03 a.m.
9
10 PRETRIAL CONFERENCE
11 BEFORE THE HONORABLE CHIEF JUDGE GEORGE LEVI RUSSELL III
Chief United States District Judge
12
13 A P P E A R A N C E S
14 ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT:
15 UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
36 S. Charles Street, 4th Floor
16 Baltimore, Maryland 21201
BY: PAUL ANTHONY RILEY, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY
17 (410) 209-4800
paul.riley@usdoj.gov
18 BY: REEMA SOOD, ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY
(410) 209-4943
19 reema.sood@usdoj.gov
20
21 (Continued)
22
23
PATRICIA KLEPP, RMR
24 Official Court Reporter
6500 Cherrywood Lane, Suite 200
25 Greenbelt, Maryland 20770
***COMPUTER-AIDED TRANSCRIPT OF STENOTYPED NOTES***
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 2 of 29
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1 A P P E A R A N C E S (Cont'd)
2
ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENDANT:
3
SCHULMAN, HERSHFIELD AND GILDEN PA
4 1 E. Pratt Street, Suite 904
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
5 BY: RICHARD B. BARDOS, ESQUIRE
(410) 332-0850
6 rbardos@shg-legal.com
7 ALSO PRESENT:
8 S.A. BRIAN GORMAN - DOL, OIG
S.A. SUMMER BAUGH - FBI
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 3 of 29
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 (Call to order of the Court.)
3 THE COURTROOM DEPUTY: All rise. The United States
4 District Court for the District of Maryland is now in session,
5 the Honorable Chief Judge George Levi Russell III is now
6 presiding.
7 THE COURT: All right. You could be seated, everyone.
8 All right, good morning. Mr. Riley, why don't you
9 call the case.
10 MR. RILEY: Good morning, Your Honor. Calling the
11 case of United States America v. Ryan E. Dales. That's Criminal
12 No. 23-00026-GLR. Assistant United States Attorneys Paul Riley
13 and Rema Sood on behalf of the government -- with us today are
14 two agents, Special Agent Brian Gorman of the Department of
15 Labor, Office of Inspector General, as well as Special Agent
16 Summer Baugh of the FBI -- here today this morning for a
17 pretrial conference.
18 THE COURT: All right, very well. Good morning.
19 Mr. Bardos, it's always a pleasure, sir.
20 MR. BARDOS: Thank you. You, too, Your Honor.
21 Richard Bardos on behalf of Ryan Dales, who is present
22 to my left.
23 THE COURT: All right, Mr. Dales, good morning to you,
24 sir.
25 THE DEFENDANT: Good morning.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 4 of 29
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1 THE COURT: All right. We are here for the purposes
2 of a pretrial conference. I note that there are a couple of
3 motions pending, a motion in limine pending that I believe has
4 been responded to, as well as a motion for reconsideration of
5 the motion to suppress that has not been responded to as of yet.
6 I will await responses before I take into consideration those
7 individual motions.
8 So we are here for the purposes of the pretrial
9 conference. Will Mr. Barron be joining the trial team?
10 MR. RILEY: At this time, the answer is yes to your
11 question, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT: Okay, thank you. Well, I would hope that
13 he would have been here.
14 MR. RILEY: Yes, Your Honor, understood.
15 THE COURT: I mean, he's -- and the pretrial
16 conference is a critical portion of this case if he's planning
17 on participating in the trial, and we outline -- and you've had
18 trials with me before; we outline how the case is going to
19 proceed, the expectations for the attorneys, so I --
20 MR. RILEY: Yes, Your Honor.
21 THE COURT: -- just ask that you convey that to him --
22 MR. RILEY: Understood, Your Honor.
23 THE COURT: -- and what we discuss.
24 MR. RILEY: Will do, Your Honor.
25 THE COURT: All right, very good.
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1 Mr. Bardos.
2 MR. BARDOS: Your Honor, with regard to the motion in
3 limine filed by the government, on the three points that they
4 filed, I'm not objecting to -- I'm not opposing that motion.
5 THE COURT: Okay.
6 Okay, fantastic. So I'm going to go ahead and grant
7 that motion in limine as unopposed, so whatever that ECF number
8 is --
9 MR. RILEY: Thank you, Your Honor.
10 THE COURT: -- it's fine, and I will await the
11 response to opposition to the motion for reconsideration in due
12 course.
13 All right. Mr. Bardos, in the event that Mr. Dales
14 wishes to speak to you, or Mr. Dales, you want to speak to
15 Mr. Bardos, just let me know, because I'm going to be doing a
16 lot of speaking, and I'd rather you listen to what's going on up
17 here and not miss anything, because I'm speaking, and you were
18 talking to Mr. Bardos. So if you wish to speak to Mr. Bardos,
19 just let me know, and I will be more than happy to let you speak
20 to him, okay?
21 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
22 THE COURT: Okay, fair enough.
23 All right. We are here for a pretrial conference. We
24 are currently set for trial, for a trial that is to begin on
25 December 2nd, 2024. The schedule will be 9:30 to 4:30 to 5:00.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 6 of 29
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1 I'll expect the lawyers to be here at 9:00 a.m. so that I can
2 ferret out any preliminary matters that may come up among the
3 parties or to bring those -- any matters to your attention so
4 that we're not wasting the jury's time.
5 The case is set for -- currently set for five to
6 six days. This is the gun case of the two-part case.
7 Wire fraud will be at a later time.
8 I was getting prepared for the pretrial conference,
9 and Mr. Riley, do you anticipate the gun portion to be five to
10 six days?
11 MR. RILEY: No, no, Your Honor, and in fleshing out
12 our witnesses and the proof, I think it's quite possible the
13 government -- depending on what counsel does and any defense
14 case and things like that, I think it's quite likely, certain,
15 perhaps, that this trial will be done by Wednesday-Thursday the
16 week of December 2nd. The government could be in a position to
17 rest on Wednesday, the 4th of that week.
18 THE COURT: Okay, all right. So -- right, I didn't
19 expect it to be that long.
20 Now, with regard to summonsing jurors, I had a trial
21 that was set for the first part of January, specifically,
22 January 13th. I could do the second trial January 13th, because
23 it's going to be cumbersome to end up summonsing jurors that I
24 don't know what day they're going to be coming, because I don't
25 know what day that the government's going to be resting, and I
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 7 of 29
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1 don't know -- it's hard for me to judge when -- you know,
2 exact- -- with precision what's happening, so ...
3 MR. RILEY: Your Honor, I guess I would say, in
4 talking to Counsel about this and talking internally, if the
5 Court is open to doing the trials back to back, we've been
6 planning to do it that way. Of course, we defer to the Court in
7 terms of scheduling and understand the logistical concerns with
8 respect to summonsing folks, but I think if Your Honor were to
9 have folks come on December 9th, so one week after the
10 December 2 date, I think that would -- that certainly works for
11 the government; we would be prepared proceed in due course.
12 But we have been lining up our witnesses testifying in
13 the fraud and ID theft case, but ultimately, we defer to the
14 Court in terms of scheduling. If Your Honor wants to do it the
15 week of January 13th, the government can certainly do that.
16 THE COURT: Yeah, and I'm glad we're doing this well
17 in advance as well.
18 Mr. Bardos, what's your schedule like on the 13th?
19 MR. BARDOS: You mean for January, Your Honor?
20 THE COURT: Yeah.
21 MR. BARDOS: Well, along with Mr. Riley, I had booked
22 December 9th, but I believe I'm open January 13th.
23 THE COURT: Okay.
24 MR. BARDOS: Also, the Court referred to the first
25 trial as the gun case; it's the guns and --
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 8 of 29
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1 THE COURT: Guns and drugs.
2 MR. BARDOS: Okay.
3 THE COURT: Correct, correct.
4 MR. BARDOS: I thought it was three trials -- well, I
5 did want three trials, but I don't anymore in light of the
6 Court's ruling.
7 THE COURT: Okay. So what we'll do is, we'll do the
8 guns and the narcotics trial beginning on December 2nd. And
9 again, I was just like, I don't see this lasting seven days, but
10 then, summonsing jurors with deliberations taking place and the
11 fact that I have a trial that fell out, if Counsel are
12 available, then we can do the fraud case, if necessary, the week
13 of January 13th and anticipate the week of January 13th -- and
14 then, I think there's a holiday somewhere in there, but --
15 you know, one or two days after that. So that way, we can get
16 jurors summonsed for that day and we're not worried about that.
17 So as far as discovery is concerned -- and we'll just
18 make sure Nadine's aware of that, and we'll send out -- and
19 we'll get come-ups and all of that taken care of as well.
20 MR. RILEY: Yes, Your Honor.
21 THE COURT: As far as discovery's concerned,
22 everything's been turned over, Jencks, Brady, et cetera.
23 MR. RILEY: Jencks has not been turned over,
24 Your Honor.
25 THE COURT: Okay.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 9 of 29
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1 MR. RILEY: I thought this might come up today. The
2 government can be prepared -- or the government will -- the
3 government will comply with whatever deadline Your Honor sets,
4 but -- I mean, the government would propose two weeks before
5 trial with disclosure of any Jencks material.
6 THE COURT: Okay. Mr. Bardos, is that okay with you,
7 especially for the gun and drugs case?
8 MR. BARDOS: Yes, Your Honor.
9 THE COURT: Okay.
10 MR. RILEY: And with respect to -- I mean, Brady --
11 obviously, Brady -- to the extent there is any Brady material,
12 Your Honor, it's been disclosed to Defendant. Discovery is
13 substantially complete.
14 Your Honor, I will note -- and we're going to respond
15 to the motion for reconsideration in due course. There was a
16 suggestion that there was, you know, a document that should have
17 been in discovery that was not in discovery by Counsel --
18 THE COURT: Then I may have misspoken when I issued my
19 ruling with regard to the relationship that -- the establishment
20 of probable cause based upon a secondary fraud claim that was
21 not in existence at the time of the first application, so I may
22 have mis- -- I'll have to look at the transcript and give the
23 response. I don't know how that impacts Leon and the good faith
24 exception, et cetera, or -- but I will wait to hear from you.
25 MR. RILEY: Yes, Your Honor. And I believe that the
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 10 of 29
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1 deadline for our response is on Wednesday of this week. We
2 are -- intend to file a response that day.
3 THE COURT: Okay.
4 MR. RILEY: With respect to discovery, there was an
5 allegation or suggestion that a document was not disclosed by
6 the government that should have been disclosed. That document
7 was disclosed in our second production in this case, nearly
8 two years ago. Counsel did correct his assertion, previous
9 assertion to the Court, and I provided the document -- as soon
10 as I saw that, the government saw that, we provided that
11 document again to defense counsel.
12 I will say, Your Honor, that in the lead-up to trial,
13 inevitably, the government takes certain additional
14 investigative steps; perhaps we discover additional instances of
15 fraud, additional evidence that might help us. As that's been
16 happening, Your Honor, the government has been making additional
17 subsequent disclosures. As soon as we have discoverable
18 documents, we promptly disclose them to the defense.
19 So to answer Your Honor's question directly, it's --
20 so discovery is substantially complete, and to the extent we
21 come on to new discoverable documents, we promptly disclose them
22 to defense.
23 THE COURT: Okay, thank you.
24 Any comment from you, Mr. Bardos?
25 MR. BARDOS: No, Your Honor. Thank you.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 11 of 29
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1 THE COURT: All right. I have had the opportunity to
2 review the voir dire. As is typically my practice, I gave you a
3 bullet-point sort of checklist which outlines the various
4 voir dire questions which will be asked. I will -- for
5 Mr. Dales' benefit, I am going to go through each and every
6 question or summarize each and every question that will be asked
7 of the prospective jury panel and provide Mr. Dales with an
8 outline of what he can expect related to the jury selection in
9 the case.
10 I did receive the instructions. I have not reviewed
11 the instructions yet; I will probably wait for a charging
12 conference, maybe the day before the conclusion of the
13 testimony, to review that with the lawyers.
14 Any objections should be limited to two- or three-word
15 objections; hearsay, asked and answered, speculation,
16 foundation, et cetera. In the event Counsel believes that they
17 wish to make an additional record, they would just simply ask to
18 approach, and we can do so under the cover of the noise button.
19 Any witness issues, Mr. Riley, as to the gun and drug
20 case, witness availability issue, need to take witnesses out of
21 turn, et cetera?
22 MR. RILEY: No, Your Honor. The vast majority of the
23 government's witnesses are government-controlled witnesses,
24 agents, et cetera. I will note, there's a heavy load of folks
25 who will be testifying as experts as well, and the government
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 12 of 29
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1 has made all of its expert disclosures, except for one, which we
2 anticipate making this week for the defense.
3 THE COURT: Okay, very well. Thank you.
4 Any special needs from the government or defendant,
5 special needs being, somebody's got some back problems, you take
6 medication, you know, any other needs that you believe that I
7 should be aware of?
8 MR. RILEY: Not that I'm aware of at this time,
9 Your Honor.
10 THE COURT: Okay, thank you.
11 Mr. Bardos?
12 MR. BARDOS: None from the defense, thank you.
13 THE COURT: Okay. Any -- you both are very familiar
14 with how the equipment is used. In the event that you need any
15 assistance or tutorials related to equipment use, just simply
16 contact the Clerk's Office.
17 Any issues that the Court needs to be aware of or the
18 Marshals Service needs to be aware of regarding security?
19 MR. RILEY: No, Your Honor. And I will note, this
20 case does involve drugs, firearms, and we'll be taking the
21 appropriate precautions with respect to those items and will
22 consult with the Marshals Service with respect to making
23 firearms safe and so on.
24 THE COURT: All right. Any -- and to the extent that
25 the parties reached an agreement regarding stipulations of the
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 13 of 29
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1 genuineness and authenticity of certain documents or evidence
2 and reports, just simply engage in those stipulations;
3 otherwise, the custodian of records or whoever -- the
4 appropriate person should be subpoenaed to testify.
5 We've already discussed the motions and pending
6 motions. We will likely address those in due course,
7 potentially at an additional pretrial conference prior to the
8 January 13 trial.
9 So at this point in time, I'm going to go through with
10 Counsel the joint proposed voir dire for Mr. Dales' benefit.
11 Mr. Dales, what will happen, members of the public who
12 have been summonsed to this court for the purposes of being a
13 possible juror in your case will be brought into this courtroom
14 and lined up in the back of the jury room in the gallery.
15 They'll be lined up in numerical order. The first thing we'll
16 do will be, the courtroom deputy will swear in the individual
17 panel members -- well, no, the first thing we'll do is take a
18 roll call of the individual jurors, and they're going to
19 identify themselves by their number only. They're going to
20 stand, and "Raise your right hand," and say, "Here."
21 Next, the courtroom deputy will end up swearing in the
22 panel collectively as a group, and I'm going to begin, after I
23 introduce myself, to provide them with information related to
24 the individual case so that they can be selected for jury
25 service here. And you would have the opportunity to scrutinize
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 14 of 29
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1 those jurors to make sure that they are suitable jurors in your
2 case and in your trial.
3 The fact that I'm questioning them as a group doesn't
4 lessen their obligations to accurately and truthfully make known
5 the answers in response to the questions that I'm going to ask.
6 If their answer is yes to any of the individual questions,
7 they're going to stand up and say, "Yes," giving their juror
8 number only.
9 At the second portion of the jury selection, under the
10 cover of the noise button (indicating), they're going to respond
11 up here, in front of me, providing additional details regarding
12 their affirmative responses that they've already given. You
13 will have the opportunity hear those responses through an
14 earpiece. If for some reason, that earpiece stops working, I
15 need you to sort of raise your hand to get your attention -- get
16 the attention of the courtroom deputy, and he will make sure
17 that you get another one that's charged and ready. And
18 of course, I will stop speaking in the event that your earpiece
19 stops working.
20 The number of questions that I'm going to ask in the
21 case -- for example, "The case now under consideration is the
22 United States of America v. Ryan Dales. As noted, Mr. Dales is
23 charged with felon in possession of a firearm, possession with
24 intent to distribute fentanyl, and possession of a firearm in
25 furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense, as corresponding with
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 15 of 29
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1 bullet No. 1 on the sheet that I just gave you. Other than what
2 I told you, do you know anything at all about this case, either
3 through your own personal knowledge, through media reports or
4 social media or discussion with anyone else? If so, please
5 stand." And then I will say something if no one stands up; "Let
6 the record reflect there is no response."
7 Then, I'm going to next ask them whether or not they
8 know you, and so I'm going to ask that you stand up and face the
9 prospective members of the jury, and I will ask them, "Does
10 anyone know the defendant, have any business or personal
11 relationships either in the past or the present with the
12 defendant? If so, please stand." Then I'll invite you have to
13 a seat again. If no one knows you, I'll say, "Let the record
14 reflect, there's no response.
15 Then, next, I will ask Mr. Bardos to stand up. He
16 will remove his mask and show his face to the members of the
17 jury, prospective members of the jury, and ask them the same
18 questions. I'll go through that with the United States and the
19 federal prosecutors, Mr. Riley and Ms. Sood, and Mr. Barron if
20 he is here.
21 And then, I will introduce myself, and I'll say, "Does
22 anyone know me or anyone else on my judicial staff? That
23 corresponds with bullet point No. 5."
24 Then, we talk about witnesses. And I'll probably need
25 the agents as well --
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 16 of 29
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1 MR. RILEY: Yes, Your Honor.
2 THE COURT: -- if they're going to be here.
3 MR. RILEY: Your Honor, the government was planning to
4 include a -- sort of a little more broader than simply a witness
5 list. If there was a chance that a witness' name might be
6 mentioned, we were going to include them on the list.
7 THE COURT: That's fine.
8 MR. RILEY: Thank you, Your Honor.
9 THE COURT: That's fine.
10 Then, "The next one corresponds with bullet No. 6.
11 The following persons may be called as witnesses or mentioned in
12 this matter. Please pay attention to their names; it's
13 necessary that we are aware if you know any of them." Then I'll
14 read off those witnesses. "Does anyone recognize or know any of
15 these individuals? If so, please stand. That corresponds with
16 bullet point No. 6."
17 Then, "Bullet point 7. Look around at the other
18 members of the jury pool. Does anyone know a member of the
19 panel or know -- does any member of the panel know any other
20 member of the panel? If so, please stand."
21 Now, I'll go through each one of the questions in
22 individual voir dire that corresponds to the bullet points. If
23 someone asks me or affirmatively says, "Yes, I am aware of the
24 case," or, "I know Mr. Bardos," or, "I know Mr. Riley," or "I
25 know Ms. Sood," or "I know" any of the agents, when they come up
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 17 of 29
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1 here, I will ask how they know them and whether or not their
2 knowledge of them would affect their ability to be fair and
3 impartial. And I will do that for each one of the affirmative
4 questions that are asked.
5 If for some reason -- and we'll get to this. There's
6 a question, "Have you ever been a victim of a crime?" If a
7 person affirmatively responds to that particular question, I ask
8 them, "Well, what crime were you the victim of?" And then they
9 might say -- and then I'll ask them, "Well, were the
10 perpetrators ever caught?" "Do you believe that the criminal
11 justice system treated them fairly or treated you fairly?"
12 And then I will ask, as a conclusion, "Is there
13 anything about that incident that will prevent you from being
14 fair and impartial to the parties in the case?" And if the
15 answer is no, that's fine; I'll ask -- if the answer is, "Yes,"
16 then I may end up having them elaborate on that further, but if
17 the answer is "Yes," it very well could be that their responses
18 created a circumstance where it's fairly clear that they should
19 be struck for cause.
20 If that's the case in my mind, before we move on to
21 any other questions in the voir dire, I'll just ask Counsel,
22 "Counsel, do you have any questions?" "Do you have any
23 questions?" And if the answer by both lawyers is, "No," then it
24 seems as though we're all on the same page that the juror will
25 be struck for cause, and I will invite the juror to sit back
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 18 of 29
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1 down.
2 And then I will entertain what I presume to be an
3 unopposed or joint motion to strike for cause, which I will end
4 up granting, because it seems to me it doesn't make sense to go
5 through all of the other individual voir dire questions if
6 indeed, the witness has responded in a manner which clearly
7 would affect the witness' bias or impartiality in the matter.
8 The next question will be question bullet point 8.
9 That's whether or not you or a family member have been employed
10 by or in connection with any law enforcement agency.
11 The next question is, employed by the Public
12 Defender's Office, a federal, private criminal defense lawyer or
13 other entity that provides service with the person convicted of
14 a crime.
15 The next question deals with if you or an immediate
16 family has ever been connected with a court or court-related
17 agency.
18 The next question, 11, is whether or not any person
19 has been employed in the Courthouse.
20 Next question, 12, will be, "is employed with or had a
21 dispute with or legal dealings with the FBI or other federal
22 agency that I mentioned."
23 13 is favorable or unfavorable opinions of law
24 enforcement officers or any other police department or
25 law enforcement agency.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 19 of 29
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1 14 are strong feelings that they might have about
2 drugs or narcotics that would affect their ability to be fair
3 and impartial.
4 15, for example, you might get a juror that says,
5 "Yeah, I've got strong feelings, I have a cousin who overdosed
6 on heroin," and, "Do you have such strong feelings that you
7 don't believe you could be fair and impartial?" "Yeah, I can't
8 a stand heroin and fentanyl." And that would, to me, be -- that
9 response would prompt an inquiry to the two of you to say, "Do
10 you have any questions?" "Do you have any questions?" And if
11 the answer to that is no, then I would strike that particular
12 juror for cause.
13 If it's a closer question, however, "Well, I'm not
14 sure," then I would default to a question of, "Well, let me ask
15 you this; are you capable of listening to the evidence and
16 making a decision exclusively on the evidence whether or not the
17 government has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt? If
18 the government has done so, you must find the defendant guilty;
19 if the government hasn't done so, you must find the defendant
20 not guilty. Are you capable of doing that?" And if they still
21 say, "Hey, I'm not certain," then that also is a ground to
22 strike them for cause." If for some reason they say, "Oh, okay,
23 I can do that," then maybe not, and I would still entertain the
24 balance of the voir dire questions that I've asked of them.
25 Question 15 talks about members of your -- their
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 20 of 29
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1 immediate family; "Have you or a member of your immediate family
2 been a victim of a crime, charged with a crime, accused of a
3 crime, or arrested, as well as being a witness to a crime."
4 Mr. Riley, I took out -- and Mr. Bardos, I took out --
5 you don't have to get up for this. I took out question E, Has
6 anybody -- "Has any member of the jury panel or any member of
7 your immediate family ever been a witness to a crime?" I found
8 that to be too vague, and -- because you see things going on all
9 the time, but really, the focus is on whether or not you were a
10 state's witness or a defense witness in a case in a trial.
11 No objection to that modification, Mr. Riley?
12 MR. RILEY: No, Your Honor.
13 THE COURT: Mr. Bardos?
14 MR. BARDOS: No, Your Honor.
15 THE COURT: 16 is whether or not -- it relates to
16 individuals who have legal education or work for a law firm, or
17 secretary, or private investigator.
18 17 is whether or not anyone has been a party to a
19 criminal or civil case pending in this or any other federal or
20 state court.
21 "Has any-" -- 18, whether or not they -- and I
22 combined 18 and -- I'm sorry, I combined 20 and - 21 and 22,
23 because I say, "whether or not you've been on a petit jury or
24 12-person jury or a grand juror." I will typically ask, if the
25 answer is yes to any of those, "What kind of case was the
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 21 of 29
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1 12-person jury, and how did you vote, how long ago was it, is
2 there anything about that case that would affect your ability to
3 be fair and impartial," et cetera.
4 Question 19 talks about legal disputes with the
5 federal, state, or local government or an agency of that
6 government, including the IRS, FBI, or Baltimore County
7 Police Department.
8 20 deals with negative experiences with or negative
9 feelings towards or have reservations or opinions about
10 prosecutors or the U.S. Department of Justice -- and I just
11 combined them -- or criminal defense lawyers or people they
12 hire. So I've combined 24 and 25.
13 Bullet point 21 relates to the number of witnesses
14 that -- "During a trial, a number of witnesses called by the
15 government may be state or federal law enforcement officers;
16 would you be inclined to give more our less weight to them just
17 simply because they're law enforcement or police officers?"
18 I combined 27 and 28 to say, "more or less weight to
19 the testimony of a witness called by the prosecution or the
20 defense?" That's bullet point 22.
21 Bullet point 23 talks about, "Are you part of an
22 advocacy group in our criminal justice system or -- that
23 advocates for change to the sentencing guidelines of the
24 criminal justice system? So that's bullet point 23.
25 24, any reservations concerning the administration of
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 22 of 29
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1 the criminal justice in the courts that would prevent you from
2 bringing a fair and impartial verdict.
3 25 talks about individuals unwilling to follow my
4 instructions on the law even though they would disagree with
5 them.
6 26 talks about not doing any internet research and
7 their ability to obey an order regarding -- prohibiting them
8 from engaging in internet research.
9 27 instructs them or questions them on whether or not
10 they understand the concept of presumption of innocence, and
11 just because a defendant is charged or arrested with a crime
12 does not make him guilty.
13 28 deals with the presumption of innocence and the
14 burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and any problems
15 applying that standard.
16 30 deals with penalties and not considering the
17 possible punishment in the event that they are convicted and
18 whether or not there's any prospective juror that can -- is
19 unable to put aside consideration of punishment.
20 31 deals with any philosophical, religious, or any
21 other matter, fact, or thing that would prevent them from being
22 impartial.
23 32 is, do they have any biases based upon race, sex,
24 or age or any other characteristics that would prevent them from
25 rendering a fair and impartial verdict in the case.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 23 of 29
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1 33, I combined 33 and 40 -- with 39, 40, and 41,
2 talking about, does anyone have -- on the panel have physical or
3 mental -- have any physical or mental impairment or medical
4 condition of your vision, hearing, or caused by medication or
5 language problems that would affect your ability to render a
6 fair and impartial verdict in this case.
7 No objections to that modification?
8 MR. RILEY: Not from the government, Your Honor.
9 MR. BARDOS: No, Your Honor. Thank you.
10 THE COURT: Let's see. 34 would be the schedule. I
11 thought your 43 was duplicative. I think we've caught
12 everything.
13 Your 43 reads, "Does anyone on the panel have any
14 personal, family, or other considerations that would make it
15 difficult to serve as a juror for the full length of the trial?"
16 Any objection to excising that question?
17 MR. RILEY: No, Your Honor.
18 THE COURT: Mr. Bardos?
19 MR. BARDOS: No, Your Honor.
20 THE COURT: All right. Your No. 44, my number 34
21 talks about the schedule in the case. I think 45 is
22 duplicative. Do Counsel agree?
23 MR. RILEY: Yes, Your Honor, I think it would be
24 captured in other questions that talk about --
25 THE COURT: Yeah.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 24 of 29
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1 The same with you, Mr. Bardos?
2 MR. BARDOS: Yes.
3 THE COURT: All right.
4 I think 46 is duplicative as well. I think I've
5 talked about any other matter, fact, or thing and everything
6 else.
7 All right. 35 is our citizenship. I just added,
8 "under the age of 18." I doubt we're going to have anybody
9 under the age of 18 in our prospective jury panel that is either
10 not a United States citizen under the age of 18, not a resident
11 of the State of Maryland, and we've already dealt with, "cannot
12 comprehend or understand the English language."
13 Okay. So that's the way that will end up -- the voir
14 dire will end up proceeding.
15 Questions?
16 MR. RILEY: Not from the government.
17 MR. BARDOS: No, thank you.
18 THE COURT: In the event that there is a pretrial
19 resolution of this case, I urge counsel to get in touch with me
20 or get in touch with Chambers as soon as possible so that I can
21 free up the court space as well as end the summonses of the
22 jurors.
23 So right now, we're going to put in a panel for the
24 13th of January, and that's going to be for about five days,
25 six days.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 25 of 29
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1 All right. Is there anything else?
2 MR. RILEY: Briefly, Your Honor. With respect to
3 presentation at trial, does Your Honor intend to use the juror's
4 systems, the juror electronic -- juror evidence review system?
5 THE COURT: I do.
6 MR. RILEY: Okay. Well, the government will
7 coordinate further with Mr. Carrick on that, given the exhibits
8 and the form that they need to be in.
9 The other question for the Court, Your Honor, concerns
10 copies of materials. The government's happy to provide the
11 Court as many binders as the Court wants.
12 THE COURT: I only need one set.
13 MR. RILEY: Understood. Thank you, Your Honor.
14 And the government does intend to provide our trial
15 exhibits to defense counsel electronically as well, and we'll do
16 that via the file share system on the deadline set by the Court.
17 And with respect to that deadline, Your Honor, the government
18 asked the Court for two additional weeks to provide trial
19 exhibits to Counsel, and Your Honor granted that time request.
20 THE COURT: Right.
21 MR. RILEY: Given that the fraud case is now going to
22 be on January 13, the government would ask for permission to
23 provide the exhibits for that fraud case two to three weeks
24 before that January 13 date.
25 THE COURT: Okay. That falls in like the middle of
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1 the holiday. I mean -- you know, so Mr. Bardos getting dumped
2 on with exhibits before the holidays.
3 MR. RILEY: Well, three weeks before the trial date,
4 Your Honor, if that's acceptable to the Court?
5 THE COURT: Mr. Bardos?
6 MR. BARDOS: That's fine, Your Honor.
7 THE COURT: All right.
8 MR. RILEY: Thank you, Your Honor.
9 THE COURT: All right, fantastic.
10 Mr. Bardos?
11 MR. BARDOS: So Judge, the only issue I want to
12 raise -- and I know it's premature, because you said, we're
13 going to do a charge conference later, but I want to be clear
14 for opening statement.
15 So one of the charges is felon in possession, and we
16 are going -- I have to talk -- confirm this with Mr. Dales, but
17 I expect we are going to stipulate that he had a prior felony
18 conviction, he was not eligible, and that he knew that.
19 I would ask that that be the extent -- and whatever
20 the sentence was but not the specific type of crime. And
21 Mr. Riley and I have started talking about that.
22 THE COURT: That makes sense.
23 MR. BARDOS: But I just wanted to let -- bring that to
24 your attention, because that's the only issue I really have. I
25 have some other issues with instructions, but for that, I didn't
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 27 of 29
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1 want the government standing up in opening statements, saying,
2 by the way, he was convicted of this, prior.
3 So that's the only issue I wanted to raise.
4 THE COURT: Right.
5 Mr. Riley?
6 MR. RILEY: We'll confer with Counsel on this. I
7 think under Old Chief, the government is required to do it. If
8 the defense wants us to do it with respect to a prior
9 conviction, the government's required to -- a stipulation
10 shouldn't be an issue in this case.
11 The Government will research the specific point of
12 whether the type of conviction itself can or should be mentioned
13 in the stipulation or whether it can be mentioned by the
14 government, and we'll confer with Mr. Bardos on it. And if we
15 have a dispute, we'll bring it up with the Court promptly.
16 THE COURT: Yeah, I'm inclined to not bring up the
17 precise conviction, especially in light of the stipulation so
18 the defendant is not necessarily prejudiced by the type of
19 conviction that created --
20 MR. RILEY: Say no more, Your Honor; understood.
21 THE COURT: Okay, very good.
22 Anything else, Mr. Bardos?
23 MR. BARDOS: No, thank you, Judge.
24 THE COURT: All right, thank you very much. Take
25 care.
Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 28 of 29
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1 THE COURTROOM DEPUTY: All rise. This Honorable Court
2 stands in recess.
3 (The proceedings were recessed at 10:38 a.m.)
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Case 1:23-cr-00026-GLR Document 91 Filed 11/21/24 Page 29 of 29
1 CERTIFICATE OF OFFICIAL REPORTER
2 I, Patricia Klepp, Registered Merit Reporter, in and for
3 the United States District Court for the District of Maryland,
4 do hereby certify, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 753, that the
5 foregoing is a true and correct transcript of the
6 stenographically-reported proceedings held in the above-entitled
7 matter and the transcript page format is in conformance with the
8 regulations of the Judicial Conference of the United States.
9 Dated this 21st day of November, 2024.
10
11
______________/s/______________________
12 PATRICIA KLEPP, RMR
Official Court Reporter
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