Posted on 09/22/2023 7:13:23 PM PDT by george76
Allegheny County court officials are still trying to figure out how a man accused of carrying $1.6 million in fentanyl in Pittsburgh was released from custody this month, and now another judge is reportedly involved in the snafu.
A nationwide arrest warrant was issued for Yan Carlos Pichardo Cepeda, 27, after he failed to appear for court. Pichardo Cepeda, of New York, is accused of carrying hundreds of thousands of fentanyl doses at a Pittsburgh bus station. He was given a nonmonetary bond by a district judge and released. He missed a second court date on Tuesday.
Local politicians are pointing fingers and accusing each other of malpractice. Republicans blame progressive policies such as cashless bail, while Democrats claim the district attorney is deflecting responsibility and not being proactive enough in Pichardo Cepeda’s case.
As the case becomes a political football, new information is emerging that shows two district judges — Xander Orenstein and Gene Ricciardi, who ideologically are on opposite ends of the political spectrum — were involved in Pichardo Cepeda’s release. That further complicates a case that figures to stay on voters’ mind as the election nears and could lead to changes in the county’s court system.
“Court administration is reviewing procedures to provide safeguards to prevent another such occurrence,” said Joe Asturi, a spokesman for the court system.
Unanswered questions
Police said agents arrested Pichardo Cepeda on Aug. 31 outside the Greyhound station in Downtown Pittsburgh with 9 kilograms — or 450,000 doses — of fentanyl. Police estimated its street value at $1.6 million.
At Pichardo Cepeda’s arraignment the next day, pretrial services recommended that Pichardo Cepeda be held without bond because of his criminal history that included seven prior arrests, two misdemeanor convictions and pending cases in New York for grand larceny and sexual assault.
Orenstein granted a nonmonetary bond, meaning Pichardo Cepeda was released without having to pay any cash.
Paperwork in the case showed that Orenstein initially set nonmonetary bond but imposed the condition of electronic monitoring.
However, under Allegheny County Common Pleas Court rules, district judges are not permitted to assign electronic monitoring as a condition. That can only be done by a Common Pleas Court judge.
Instead, the district judge can recommend that pretrial services take the case to Common Pleas Court, where a judge would make that determination.
When that happens, typically the defendant is held in jail until the next hearing — often within a couple of days.
In the Pichardo Cepeda case, Orenstein believed the suspect would be held in jail until a decision about electronic monitoring was made, Asturi said.
Orenstein set the nonmonetary bail on Sept. 1. The next day, Allegheny County Jail staff approached District Judge Gene Ricciardi, who was presiding that day, for clarification of the bail condition, according to Asturi.
Asturi said Ricciardi then contacted Orenstein and received permission to review the electronic monitoring condition. Ricciardi then removed the electronic monitoring condition because district judges can’t impose it, and Pichardo Cepeda was released.
Ricciardi did not read the criminal complaint and did not know the facts of the case at the time of release, Asturi said.
Ricciardi did not respond to a request for comment. Orenstein said they could not comment on an ongoing case.
Pretrial system review?
Unanswered questions remain: Why didn’t Ricciardi discuss the facts of Pichardo Cepeda’s case when he contacted Orenstein? Why didn’t Orenstein know they were not permitted to impose electronic monitoring as a bail condition? Why did neither judge send the case to Common Pleas Court to initiate the electronic monitoring condition?
Ricciardi, a former Pittsburgh city councilman, has served as a district judge in the 27th District, which covers the South Side, since 2008. He is not seeking reelection this year. His daughter, Nina Ricciardi, is the Democratic nominee for his seat.
This is Orenstein’s first term. Orenstein was first elected in 2021.
David A. Harris, a criminal law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said what happened in the Pichardo Cepeda case reveals problems in the court system.
“The different actors functioning in the pretrial space are not connected enough to each other. Some seem to be making mistakes, and the whole pretrial system needs an all-stakeholder, systems-level review,” Harris said.
While it appears Orenstein made a mistake, Harris said, the objective of a review should be forward-looking accountability so it doesn’t happen again.
“Blaming individuals has its place, but what citizens need for our safety and protection is to know it won’t happen again,” he said.
Political football
Politicians agree that Pichardo Cepeda should not have been released, but they disagree on who, and what, is to blame.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. claims Orenstein’s progressive politics influenced the decision to grant nonmonetary bond for the suspected drug dealer.
Zappala said Orenstein is politicizing the bond process, and it is leading to outcomes such as the Pichardo Cepeda release.
“We are seeing decisions that are made that are not just inconsistent with the recommendations but completely outrageous,” Zappala said.
Zappala, a longtime Democrat, lost the primary to former Chief Public Defender Matt Dugan but received enough write-in votes from Republicans to earn the GOP nomination.
Zappala has regularly used tough-on-crime rhetoric during his nearly 25-year tenure, and over the past several years he has drawn the scorn of criminal justice reformers.
Orenstein is a member of the left-wing Democratic Socialists of America and likely the first nonbinary judge elected in the United States. Orenstein ran on a platform of criminal justice reform, including being more compassionate in eviction cases and limiting the use of cash bail.
Zappala said Dugan will abide by similar processes as Orenstein. He said he understands that cashless bail and other progressive policies deserve discussion but is concerned progressive judges and prosecutors will adhere too much to their ideology.
“That is great to have a discussion about an issue, but they are always jeopardizing the public unnecessarily. Why? I don’t get that,” Zappala said. “Your job is to uphold the Constitution. The facts of the law should be guiding you, not some political ideology.”
Dugan rejected the notion that progressive policies such as advocating cashless bail were the reason Pichardo Cepeda is on the lam. He said there should not have been bail granted to Pichardo Cepeda and called Orenstein’s decision inappropriate.
Dugan said Zappala is deflecting responsibility for Pichardo Cepeda’s release. He said the district attorney’s office was not present at the arraignment and should have been there to help ensure that Pichardo Cepeda was not released on bond.
“An arrest like this can’t be made without the district attorney’s immediate knowledge,” Dugan said. “This is a significant, probably one of the most significant, hauls of fentanyl that we have seen in Allegheny County, maybe ever. The district attorney needed to be in the courtroom making sure this suspect was not released.”
Dugan said he has rarely, if ever, seen the district attorney’s office present at arraignments during his many years running the public defender’s office. He said if elected as district attorney, he would have prosecuting attorneys at arraignments to be more proactive in cases and ensure that cases such as Pichardo Cepeda’s don’t slip through the cracks.
Zappala wrote in a Sept. 14 memo about the Pichardo Cepeda case that the arraignment stage of the booking process after an arrest is a non-adversarial and that neither defense nor prosecutors appear before the judge.
He wrote that the neutral Pre-Trial Services researched the case and recommended no bond be offered and Orenstein ignored that recommendation.
Dugan said a public defender was present at Pichardo Cepeda’s arraignment and that the district attorney can and should be present at arraignments, which could lead to better and more efficient outcomes in the criminal justice system.
Dugan also said this case should not be used to attack cashless bail policies. He said cash bail is not an effective tool for public safety. The more pertinent issue, he said, is ensuring no bail is granted in dangerous cases, not that nonmonetary bonds should never be given to low-level offenders.
Ricciardi’s inclusion in the story throws a wrench into the political narrative. While Orenstein campaigned on progressive criminal-justice reforms, Ricciardi has a long history of being tough on crime and setting high monetary bonds.
Dugan said the real issue is that Zappala’s office experienced too many breakdowns in the Pichardo Cepeda case.
“They operate completely within a silo,” Dugan said of Zappala’s office. “They have no partners. They have no collaboration with other law enforcement entities. Specifically, (no communication with) the Attorney’s General office.”
Zappala rejected the notion that his office’s relationship with state Attorney General Michelle Henry resulted in poor communication in the Pichardo Cepeda case. He said many of his former attorneys have moved on to work in the Western Pennsylvania branch of the Attorney General’s office.
He called Dugan a “fool” and said he didn’t know what he was talking about.
Attorney General spokesperson Jennifer Crandall said the office “works with all of our law enforcement partners at every level — local, state and federal — in pursuit of our shared mission to protect public safety, as we did in this case.”
“...to protect public safety, as we did in this case.”
No, madam, in THIS case you FAILED to protect public safety.
Yan Carlos Pichardo Cepeda will next appear in Court as Jeannie Cepeda, with a very nice dress, high heels, and beautiful diamond earrings.
Her new appearance (no actual surgery, just a lovely ensemble) will have her released on her own recognizance. At the next hearing, the Public Defender will announce that there are no charges against Jeannie Cepeda. All the charging documents mention Yan Carlos Pichardo Cepeda. That Cepeda was verbally and mentally abusive, keeping Jeannie from expressing herself.
Jeannie Cepeda would like a restraining order against Yan Cepeda, and would request that all law enforcement entities nationwide be on the lookout for Yan.
Why is anyone surprised? Does anyone think the flooding of fentanyl is occurring without political connections in our country?
If Cepeda used his own money to get the fentanyl he’s just out of the money. If he was acting as a mule for somebody else there are some bad actors looking for him right now. And they probably want to put a bullet in his ass. He doesn’t realize it, but the Allegheny county lock-up is the safest place for him.
CC
“Orenstein is a member of the left-wing Democratic Socialists of America and likely the first nonbinary judge elected in the United States.
Orenstein ran on a platform of criminal justice reform, including being more compassionate in eviction cases and limiting the use of cash bail.
Yup, me thinks the Cepeda issue will sort itself out.
Mayor of Pittsburgh is an African American Democrat named Ed Gainey.
No mayor of Pittsburgh won consecutive terms since Henry A. Weaver in 1858, owing in part to a prior long-standing law prohibiting a mayor from succeeding himself. To date this was the last time a Republican was elected mayor of Pittsburgh.
News story:
Democrats will retain their one-vote majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives after voters in Pittsburgh on Tuesday elected former congressional aide Lindsay Powell. Powell’s victory gives Democrats a 102-101 majority in the House.
And they will “elect” communist/socialist Sara Innammarato County Supervisor.
Then Pittsburgh (my beloved home) is over.
I’m too old to pick up and move. Besides, where would I go?
Shot while trying to escape...avoid the cashless bail thingy altogether.
Duh?
APPARENTLY—THIS COUNTY’S JUDICUAL SYSTEM IS A COMPLETE C F.
Boy, inflation is really bad when a big time drug dealer has to Take the bus.
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