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Daniel R. Alonso Profile picture
Daniel R. Alonso
@DanielRAlonso
Former fed & NYS prosecutor, civil & criminal litigator, & occasional commentator. NYC-based @BuckleyFirm. Adj Prof @CornellLaw. Views my own. RT ≠ E 🇺🇸🇦🇷
Jul 4, 2021 • 23 tweets • 8 min read
THREAD in response to @alegalnerd: Where to begin? Since McCarthy is a smart commentator whose work I sometimes agree with, I'll start with the positive. he's right that in the old days when he was a fed, SDNY never liked letting the DA's office take "high-profile" cases. 2/ They usually won, but not always - see eg., the CBS Murders, Tyco, BCCI, & most of the bank cases that Morgenthau started and Vance increased. He's also right that fed law generally favors prosecutors more than NYS. In other words, federal prosecutions are *easier.*
Jul 2, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Excellent thread, which adds a twist to the question that was being asked before the indictments: will the indictments cause the Trump Org to go under, and specifically, will its lenders demand immediate repayment of loans? 2/ I’m skeptical this indictment alone, particularly bc it doesn’t encompass the company’s core activities, would lead to that result (& it’s notably not an argument the Org’s lawyers have made publicly). If they’re performing, banks like $ & wouldn’t have huge incentive. But...
Jun 4, 2021 • 23 tweets • 11 min read
THREAD answering some questions about the #ManhattanDA race and recent controversy and sniping over candidate fundraising and suggestions in yesterday's @nytimes that @AlvinBraggNYC & @TaliFarhadian had created issues that Trump could exploit in any future prosecution. 2/ I've already analyzed the issue of Weinstein's interview for a judgeship with the White House counsel's office during Trump's first year in office and dismissed it as a non-issue.
Sep 27, 2020 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
Thread: Those who are writing that tax *avoidance* (the term @nytimes uses) is not a crime are exactly right - tax *evasion* is a crime, not "avoidance." But there is a lot here that with a proper investigation could lead to discovery of criminality. /1
nytimes.com/interactive/20… This article contains what federal agents and prosecutors call "predication," which is the bare amount you need to open a criminal investigation. But who would investigate? The President himself oversees @IRS_CI and @FBI and @TheJusticeDept. /2
Sep 22, 2020 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
This plan to combat violence from a #ManhattanDA candidate is notable for a few reasons. First, it is incredibly substantive for a political campaign - @TaliFarhadian has clearly thought about this crucial issue. /1 Second, it's a crucial issue and she is practically the *only* candidate who has a real plan - the sole exception being @LucyLangNYC, whose website reveals a five-point plan that is also quite thoughtful. /2
votelucylang.com/en/ending-gun-… Image
Aug 5, 2020 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Forgive me for being a little late to the party at the end of a long day. I worked with and under @AWeissmann_ and appeared many times before Judge Gleeson, and I think your criticism is not completely correct. /1 You're right that Barr did not monkey with the sentencing rules - the guidelines calculation was correct - he just thought the sentence was too harsh. You're also spot on that if DOJ thinks 1001 GL are harsh, then examine this across the boars, and not only for DJT's buddies. /2
Aug 3, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
An important note to this story is that if there are indictments, a new #DistrictAttorney may well try them. DA Vance has not yet said whether he's running, but here are the declared candidates to succeed him, by general description (not full resumes). /1

nytimes.com/2020/08/03/nyr… -a career public defender
-a member of the NYS Assembly who handles personal injury cases for insurance companies
-a small-firm litigator admitted to the Bar for 10 years
-an ACLU lawyer since 2018, with 10 previous jobs in 9 years before
None was ever a prosecutor. /2
Jul 16, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Of the 5 candidates @ last night's forum re succeeding @ManhattanDA Vance, only 1 of them, @AlvinBraggNYC, ever prosecuted a case (another, @TaliFarhadian, has now entered). My thoughts from last year's Queens race on the need for prosecutorial experience:
queenseagle.com/all/daniel-alo… I found this statement by candidate @janosmarton last night telling: “This is not the time for on-the-job training.” Not that different from my quote: "it is, simply put, not a job for beginners." Marton was trying to tout his own experience leading particular teams, but ...
Jul 15, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Short thread re: police and police reform. As a prosecutor, I worked with many cops, those great and those incompetent. The great ones performed valuable public service and saved lives. The bad ones were at best collecting a paycheck and waiting for their pension. /1 I also prosecuted several cops and oversaw the prosecution of many more. Once, I reported cops to internal affairs for lying and got them fired. Those cops hatched an aborted plot to kill me and a detective. /2
nytimes.com/2001/01/30/nyr…
Jul 14, 2020 • 25 tweets • 8 min read
THREAD re @AWeissmann_'s op-ed in the @nytimes this morning and the backlash against the idea of putting #RogerStone in the #GrandJury. /1
nytimes.com/2020/07/14/opi… Stone, of course, was convicted of lying to Congress and tampering with witnesses. These are very serious crimes for which people are prosecuted regularly by the Justice Department. /2
Jul 2, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Reasoned condemnation of the bullying tactics of some members of Democratic Socialists, from @errollouis.
nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-ope… “It would have been infinitely wiser to tell activists that New York’s liberal government is prepared to meet legitimate demands for police reform — but will not, and cannot, override the equally pressing need to make sure neighborhoods remain safe.”
May 16, 2020 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
This @WSJopinion editorial is puzzling. They write that #Flynn Judge Emmet Sullivan is wrong to question dismissal of charges bc previous D.C. Circuit case (Fokker) made clear that *charging* decisions are peculiarly within prosecution's discretion. /1
wsj.com/articles/emmet… But WSJ ed. board doesn't mention the key difference between Fokker and Flynn: the Fokker judge disagreed when charges were *first filed* and judge's absolutely have virtually no role in those decisions. /2 Image
Feb 14, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
DA @DaveHoovler's statement is extraordinary from a #DistrictAttorney:
"Why would anyone say something in this new world of discovery? You would be putting yourself and your family at risk." /1 I expressed similar concerns last year, while the budget bill that this discovery package was tucked into was being pushed through. /2
google.com/amp/s/www.nyda…
Feb 6, 2020 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Folks, the problem is in the way we talk about #bailreform. The needed correction will never occur if advocates can say "If only he had $500, he'd be free." We need to end cash bail while allowing judges discretion to detain. /1 And we need to be honest with the public. I wrote last month that today and previously, prosecutors use bail as a *proxy* for detention/remand when they think D is a flight risk or a danger. /2 nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-ope…
Jan 15, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I wrote in the Daily News today that the problem with the entire bail reform debate "is that our bail system was built on two deceptive foundations that have derailed the discourse for years."
nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-ope… The first is that "judges and prosecutors are human beings, and most feel a moral responsibility not to release people who threaten public safety back onto the street." So dangerousness does factor into the calculus though it's couched in terms of flight risk.
Dec 6, 2019 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
.⁦@ActingQDARyan⁩ speaks to Queens ADAs and friends at his final office holiday party. Feel-good speech lauded "best DA's office in the universe." Image .@MelindaKatz spoke first and told the ADAs they would change the office together.
Aug 2, 2019 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Short thread re: reported investigation of Trump organization by @ManhattanDA. /1
nyti.ms/337dfVc I wrote nearly a year ago about the shortcomings of the falsifying business records charges this @nytimes story says the DA is contemplating: /2
nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-ope…
Jun 24, 2019 • 22 tweets • 9 min read
THREAD re: whether District Attorneys should be elected or appointed, responding to @JohnCun11960413, who asks in the context of #QueensDA election. #NYS is one of 46 states that elects its local state prosecutors (only NJ, Delaware, Connecticut, and RI don't). /1 Even more stark is that the United States appears to be the only country on earth where local #prosecutors are elected. /2
yalelawjournal.org/note/the-origi…
Jun 12, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
At #QueensDA debate, @JoseNievesForDA says his conviction review unit would have an outside advisory board. Sort of like the program created in 2010 by @ManhattanDA. .@RoryLancman says that he offered money in City Council to #QueensDA’s office for conviction review unit, and office refused. If that’s true, I agree - DA should have accepted and established the unit.
Jun 11, 2019 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
.@GregLasak asks @MelindaKatz whether she would give a confession without an attorney present *less* weight. Katz basically says yes, which is contrary to NY law (NY law requires that the confession be voluntary.) Katz says to Lasak: “Don’t talk around me, don’t talk through me.”
Jun 11, 2019 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Recent #NYS bail reform on agenda at #QueensDA race. @MelindaKatz says they’ll have “no cash bail.” Wow - even the legislation doesn’t go that far. No cash bail for, say, drug dealers who skip court & are undocumented & rob people. I don’t think she’ll be only one who says this. @JoseNievesForDA says the same thing as Katz. I think they’re all imagining they’re in a world with fully-funded pre-trial services and readily available ankle monitors. The Legislature funded no such thing. Simply doesn’t exist on any kind of scale.