Mr Harris’s report was erroneous, the court has not ruled on Roger Khan’s Pre-Trial Motions

Dear Editor,

The report on page three of Kaieteur News of Wednesday November 7, 2007 from “Adam Harris in NY” gives the distinct impression that the court had made rulings with regard to Roger Khan’s Pre-Trial Motions.

The court made no such rulings that could be gleaned from the Public Access to the Court’s Electronic Records (PACER) system up to November 8, 2007,

The ruling to which Mr. Harris refers in his opening paragraph is an Order on (the) Motion for Recusal, a twelve page document filed on October 30 2007.

The court clearly did not agree with Mr. Khan’s submissions that the court should recuse itself for the reasons given by Khan. Capitol News reported on this order by Judge Dora L Irizarry on October 30, 2007.

The Kaieteur News report proceeds to conflate the Recusal Order with the US government’s Memo-randum of Law in opposition to the Defendant’s (Khan’s) Pre-Trial Motions that is a forty page document.

The Harris report reads as though the court and the government are synonymous. They are not and the court has not ruled on the matter just yet as far as this journalist who has covered the court for several years is aware.

The Harris Report is therefore in the main referring to the Prosecu-tion’s position (ie The US Govern-ment’s position) on Khan’s (the defendant’s) motions so far.

Oral arguments will begin on November 30.

Since persons have been asking me about what we (Capitol News) reported on WRHM Channel 7 in Guyana as against the newspaper report, I hope this clears up any confusion that may have arisen as a result of the November 7, 2007 newspaper report.

Yours faithfully,

Enrico Woolford

Editor, Capitol News