Amid further delays before the start of the trial of drug-accused businessman Roger Khan in a New York court, his lawyers indicated on Monday that they will field eight witnesses some of whom may travel from Guyana to the US to testify in the case.
Khan is facing 18 counts of conspiracy to import cocaine into the US between 2001 and 2006 and for heading a criminal enterprise. The trial should have commenced this month, but on Monday, Justice Dora Irizarry said the new start date was in October.
Justice Irizarry moved the tentative trial date from April 28, when jury selection was scheduled to start to October 27. She told the court at a status hearing on Monday, that both the defence and the prosecution should have used the time from November last year to date to address all motions, like the one to depose witnesses that is currently being addressed by the court.
The defence was hoping to have the trial over with by August this year. Monday’s hearing was essentially to rule on the matter of questioning witnesses in Guyana who either may be unable to travel or may not want to travel. The judge allowed one subpoena to be served. She reserved ruling on the others pointing out that some corrections had to be made to them. She also asked the defence to pare back the number of depositions from eight or more witnesses. However, because the press was in the courtroom, Khan’s attorney Robert Simels asked for an in-camera hearing on who would be called as defence witnesses by their names.
The judge agreed and a sidebar conference was held on the witnesses who would be listed by numbers and letters in open court.
Meanwhile, the defence is preparing to have at least two of the eight witnesses establish that a hostile relationship persisted between Khan and a person named as individual A. The defence also intends to depose as a witness an individual who operated the equipment used to intercept the communications of Individual A. The defence wants to establish that this relationship brought about events that led to the arrest of Khan in Suriname.
However, Justice Irizarry asserted that in this case she was not putting the “politics of Guyana on trial and was not going to inflame any passions in Guyana about the ‘heroics’ of Citizen Khan”. The judge added that any witnesses who were called by the defence must be relevant to the charges against Khan.
The prosecution team expressed concern that if witnesses are deposed in Guyana, then the issue of perjury could arise. The prosecution pointed out that there are ways the US government can make available special visa provisions to allow persons to go to the US, testify and return to Guyana.
The judge then allowed the defence one week to get in touch with prospective witnesses in Guyana and report to the court. The prosecution will use the next week to respond.
