Man who arrived at JFK Airport and indicted for allegedly possessing illicit Egyptian artifacts had unfair jury panel, defense lawyer suggests.
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Ancient Egyptian canopic jar lids are some of the antiquities seized by Homeland Security.
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"Loose
sand or dirt came out of the suitcases as they were opened," and there was the smell of "wet earth," recited the arrest warrant affidavit filed in U.S. v. Eldarir, an antiquities smuggling case pending in a New York federal district court.
Now a veteran defense lawyer has challenged the criminal prosecution by suggesting that the COVID-19 outbreak interfered with the selection of a fair grand jury.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested Ashraf Omar Eldarir of Brooklyn in February. The court released him on $60,000 bond and placed the case under seal, which has since been lifted.
A grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of New York (E.D.N.Y.) indicted Eldarir five months later on two counts of smuggling under 18 U.S.C. § 545, alleging:On or about April 18,2019, within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, the defendant ASHRAF OMAR ELDARIR, also known as "Omar Eldarir," did knowingly, intentionally and fraudulently import and bring into the United States merchandise contrary to law, to wit: one ancient Egyptian polychrome relief [and] ... approximately 590 Egyptian artifacts and pieces thereof.
A grand jury indictment simply initiates a criminal case; it is not a finding of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless the government proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
In addition to criminal penalties, prosecutors seek criminal forfeiture of the cultural artifacts pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 982, which include ancient Egyptian shabtis, gold artifacts, coins, panels, masks, and canopic jar lids in addition to Greco-Roman rings, stele, and a torso.
Attorney Marietou Diouf, who joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2020 and previously served as an E.D.N.Y. law clerk, leads the prosecution. She is pitted against experienced Assistant Federal Defender Kannan Sundaram, who has raised the specter of irregularities surrounding the grand jury's selection.
"The unusual circumstances of the
indictment—the grand jury sat in Central Islip as opposed to Brooklyn, at a time when most
members of the public in the Eastern District of New York were still under a stay-at-home
order—may have compromised the defendant’s right to a grand jury selected from a fair cross
section of the community," argued Attorney Sundaram in a letter to the court that asked to probe juror records. AUSA Diouf countered that the grand jury "was
empaneled ... many months before the start of the
pandemic—and has remained empaneled since then. And ... the Grand Jury was selected from a list of residents drawn from all
five counties of the Eastern District of New York."