Thread: AL - Accused Mexican drug dealer enters secret plea behind l

Are the Drug cartel indictments now carried out in secret by the DOJ so the public is not aware of the numbers?


Accused Mexican drug dealer enters secret plea behind locked doors

Published: Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 7:30 AM
By Brendan Kirby, Press-Register Press-Register


David Plata Segovia


MOBILE, Ala. — A Mexican man accused in a conspiracy that flooded the area with more than 1,100 pounds of cocaine pleaded guilty Tuesday in a rare closed-door hearing.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sonja Bivins had scheduled Tuesday’s hearing, indicating that David Plata Segovia intended to plead guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. He also was to enter a plea to an unrelated cocaine conspiracy charge from Texas.

U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade granted a request by prosecutors to file Segovia’s plea agreement under seal and also closed the hearing. All details of Segovia’s conduct remain outside of public view.

Tommy Loftis, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said he could not comment on the case but added that prosecutors expect it will soon be unsealed.

Judges routinely allow prosecutors to file secret charges prior to the arrests of suspects considered likely to flee. Judges may block disclosure of certain documents if they would jeopardize an investigation or a witness.


Hundreds of cases scrubbed from view

Conducting an entire hearing behind closed doors is unusual, although not as rare as it might seem, according to advocates of open court proceedings.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has tracked hundreds of federal cases in which all documents — even the case number — were scrubbed from public view.

“It doesn’t mean it’s right,â€

I can imagine he ratted out his buddies above him, and that is why it is sealed. I did notice the lack of a wall mounted height indicator though.