US government attorneys argued that he can easily dodge and, as a defendant, has no right to travel wherever he pleases.
The producer of the urban genre, Rafael ‘Raphy’ Pina.
Photo: Juan R. Costa / NotiCel
The federal prosecutor’s office last week opposed a request from producer Rafael “Raphy” Pina Nieves to change his bail conditions and have him move to the Dominican Republic for several weeks to celebrate the birth of his daughter with singer Natalia “Natti Natasha” Gutiérrez to attend. .
With the federal prosecutor’s position, the request to travel from April 23 to June 3 goes to Judge Francisco A. Besosa’s decision after the Miami and San Juan Parole Board approved the request.
In her motion, Pina Nieves said her request had “ deep-seated personal reasons, ” as her father was a resident of Santiago de los Caballeros and died on May 28, 2000, exactly 21 years before the date the woman should be. born. the producer’s fourth of his daughters. The producer offered to use a GPS device, reported to his probation officer while in the Dominican Republic and claimed his financial interests are in San Juan and Miami, so he wouldn’t use the trip to evade the case which he has brought for illegal possession of two weapons and more than 500 ammunition.
In her opposition, prosecutor María Montañez Concepción disputed Pina Nieves’ arguments and ignored her promises, stating that “ the issue here is whether this court should allow the accused to move abroad for more than a month, ” because that’s what you want to do. ”Pina Nieves paid $ 1 million in bail.
The evidence against Pina Nieves is “strong” and includes admissions and expert testimony, the prosecutor said, “and the defendant has already shown that he cannot cope with, understand, his inability to cope with the consequences of his past criminal activity. to comply with the ban on firearms while a convict. ”This in reference to the fact that he pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud in 2015.
With regard to the GPS, the prosecution drew attention to the fact that Pina Nieves had acquired it herself and managed it by a private company.
“Neither the United States government nor the probation service has control over the monitoring program used by the device. And now the government is being asked to trust the suspect’s proposal to make the device work in the Dominican Republic. without any access to interaction with the accused if it does not work … the extradition treaty between the Dominican Republic and the United States does not guarantee that the suspect will be located if he decides to escape, ” he said, recalling that Pina Nieves will have access has up to private boats he can use to get out of the Dominican Republic once you get there.
[L]The decision of this court need not affect the place of birth of the defendant’s daughter, as those wishes can still be fulfilled if the mother and their families decide to proceed with the defendant’s plan for the birth in the Dominican Republic, ”he concluded.
Pina Nieves’ defense replied to the Prosecution’s position, underlining that the bail conditions criteria are based on two considerations: whether the defendant poses a danger to the community and whether he poses a flight risk. They claim that it has never been argued that their client poses a danger to the community and that “there is no reason to believe that Mr. Pina Nieves poses a flight risk”. “He has absolutely no reason to run away and nothing on the record, other than the prosecution’s guesswork, suggests that he would leave his family and a multi-million dollar company behind to stay on the run,” they said.
See: Raphy Pina asks for permission to travel to the Dominican Republic for the birth of her baby
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