Thread by @alanfeuer

There were 3 mysterious filings in the Chapo case late last night. All are sealed but very interesting.
The 1st concerns a witness likely to testify early this week. The witness, the govt says, suffered a "nervous breakdown" in 2013 when he learned the cartel was looking for him.

The 2nd is a letter by the defense in support of a habeas motion "ad testificandum" meaning it seeks to get someone out of custody to testify.
About what? Unclear. But presumably it's testimony on behalf of Chapo.
Who? We don't know.
Why? Because the entire document is sealed.

The 3rd is a letter by the govt asking permission for a "contact visit" w/Chapo. Again, it's sealed so it's unclear if the govt is objecting against the defense trying to visit Chapo in person or trying to get such a visit for someone else.

Under his terms of confinement, Chapo has been denied contact visits (except for in the courtroom) even from his lawyers.
While preparing for trial, the lawyers met w/him in separate rooms & were forced to communicate thru a plexiglass window.
Who wants to visit? We don't know.

All of these filings point to the extreme secrecy that has shrouded this case from its inception start and that has continued even through more than two months of public trial.
The darkness surrounding the proceeding has been extraordinary.
See this:
nytimes.com/2018/11/21/nyr…

Before Christmas, lawyers for the NY Times wrote a detailed letter to Judge Cogan protesting these unusual measures.
But for some unknown reason, the letter complaining about secrecy has not yet been placed on the public docket.