Judge: Coronavirus doesn't trump defendant's constitutional rights

A federal judge today denied a coronavirus-related pre-trial release for one of three men who allegedly plotted the armed robbery of a Mexican-cartel drug stash house that was actually a figment of an ATF sting - but also ruled that the government has to turn over documents to his attorney that it was withholding because it's been unable to convene a grand jury to formally indict him.

Federal prosecutors say Christopher Santos, 28, was going to be the alleged weapons supplier for two other men who hatched a plan to rob 10 kilos of cocaine from a Boston-area stash house with a man who allegedly convinced them he was a disgruntled cartel drug courier but who was actually an ATF agent conducting a sting against them.

To date, Santos has only been charged in federal court with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, for a 2018 arrest in Brockton, although that charge has been good enough to have him held in custody at a federal detention facility in Rhode Island since his arrest in February.

In a ruling today, US District Court Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley rejected his request for release pending his trial, saying he had no underlying health conditions that would make him any more at risk from a Covid-19 infection than anybody else, and so she has no reason to overturn an earlier decision denying him bail because his history of illegal gun ownership makes him too much of a potential risk to society should he be allowed to await trial outside lockup.

But Kelley also ruled that federal prosecutors have to arrange with Santos's attorney to hand over certain documents they've collected about him. Normally, that would happen after somebody's been indicted - in this case for the alleged stash-house sting arrests - but, as Kelley wrote, " the government has not been able to convene a grand jury to indict him on certain charges during the past few months."

Federal prosecutors said that, instead, if Santos agreed to simply let them charge him in connection with the case without going before a grand jury, they'd turn over the documents.

Nope, Kelley ruled:

The court does not agree that Mr. Santos should have to waive his constitutional right to be charged by indictment in order to examine the government's evidence against him in this related matter, which unquestionably looms large in the court's detention decision. The court now orders the government to provide Mr. Santos with discovery concerning that case. The court will leave it to the parties to work out the timing and scope of that discovery and will entertain a motion to compel if agreement cannot be reached. The court urges the parties to confer and if necessary file a protective order concerning any such discovery.

Under a protective order, prosecutors would hand over documents to Santos's lawyer on the condition he not release their contents - for example, the names and addresses of witnesses - to Santos or anybody else.