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Federal judge who oversaw Maduro, Trump cases dead at 92
Confirmed
In Short: Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who presided over high-profile cases including the prosecution of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, died Wednesday at 92.
Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who had been overseeing the prosecution of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, died Wednesday at the age of 92.
Hellerstein was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1998 and had a long career handling some of the country's most significant cases.
In recent years, Hellerstein faced criticism for taking on the Maduro case just days after turning 92, and months after reporters observed him briefly falling asleep during a trial.
Hellerstein was presiding over the criminal case of Maduro, who faces drug trafficking charges, while also overseeing the case against former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had pleaded not guilty to an expanded indictment charging them with conspiracy to commit torture.
Hellerstein's death is unlikely to create significant delays in the Maduro case, according to lawyer and former federal prosecutor Duncan Levin.
A new judge will be randomly assigned to take over Hellerstein's cases, including the Maduro prosecution.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said Hellerstein passed away surrounded by his family.
Swain praised Hellerstein's work, noting his presiding over the 9/11 attacks litigation with 'sensitivity, fairness and efficiency.'
Hellerstein's quirky independent streak and strict courtroom discipline were well-known, including his insistence on pandemic-era masks for spectators for more than two years after other judges stopped the practice.
What this adds
The exact impact on the Maduro case timeline remains to be seen, but the court has mechanisms to ensure continuity.
Hellerstein's handling of high-profile cases like the Maduro prosecution and the Trump case highlighted his enduring influence on the federal judiciary.
What's confirmed
- Barry Pollack, an attorney for Maduro, said in a text message to CBS News, "We were saddened to learn of Judge Hellerstein's passing and offer our condolences to his family." Hellerstein was 64 years old when former President Bill Clinton appointed him to the federal bench.
- Fox News national correspondent Bryan Llenas reports on the charges and the defense’s expected plans on ‘America Reports.’ Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who was overseeing the case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, died at the age of 92 on Tuesday.
- “Judge Hellerstein was an insightful and dedicated lawyer who, following a distinguished career in the private sector, served with distinction for over 25 years as a distinguished jurist of this court,” Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain said in a statement.
- Hellerstein, the senior federal judge who was overseeing the prosecution of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, died on Wednesday.
- Longtime Manhattan U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who was overseeing the prosecution of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, died Wednesday at 92.
- Hellerstein announced that he was entering the plea on behalf of Maduro after Maduro twice responded to the judge’s request to enter a plea by criticizing the indictment, saying it contained “false accusations and false testimony”.
- Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have pleaded not guilty to an expanded US indictment charging them with conspiracy to commit torture.
- SDNY Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Hellerstein passed away surrounded by his family.
- "He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed," she said.
- Hellerstein died of natural causes Wednesday morning just shy of his 93rd birthday, according to Laura Taylor Swain, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
- Hellerstein was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1998 and oversaw a diverse array of federal cases in the nation’s preeminent district court, including litigation involving the Sept.
- Maduro, who was captured alongside his wife in January in a surprise U.S. military raid in Caracas, twice defied Hellerstein's request to enter a plea.
What's still developing
- Mr. Trump was found guilty by a state jury in that case, which revolved around reimbursements made to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen for a payment just before the 2016 presidential election to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels.
- In the three decades since, he presided over major lawsuits related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a federal lawsuit against convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein, litigation related to evidence of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the trial of Ponzi schemer David Hu, and last year ruled against President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act in a case involving the deportation of Venezuelans.
- "One of the main qualifications of being a judge is that you can read a lot of paper. The fact that there's extra paperwork falls into their skill set."
- "There's no automatic pause, and there's really no fixed period of delay. Obviously a new judge is going to need time to get familiar with the case, but they can keep all the existing dates on the calendar or adjust them as necessary," Levin said.
- Trump's "hush money" criminal case involved official acts under the color of his office.
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered Hellerstein to reexamine arguments around presidential immunity, factoring the Supreme Court's landmark decision that upended multiple Trump cases.
- However, the US military operation of January 3 to capture President Nicolás Maduro has exposed the very real limitations of that strategy.
- Both told the judge they had been informed by their attorneys of the new indictment and had received a copy of it in Spanish.
- Prosecutors allege that Maduro ordered the detention and torture of certain prisoners, while Flores helped develop the system and ordered torture to protect the illicit activities of family members.
- He said the indictment represented "false accusations" against him.
- Maduro was originally charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices in a 2011 indictment that President Donald Trump's Department of Justice unsealed in 2020.
- He clerked for Judge Edmund Palmieri of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1956 to 1957 and served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps as a first lieutenant from 1957 to 1960, according to Swain's statement.