By Frank Parlato
Editor’s note: I imagine Judge Gujarati will try to blame OneTaste for this article—petulant child that she is. But for the record, I don’t work for OneTaste. I haven’t in more than a year. These stories are based solely on the outrageous behavior of a timid judge, too frightened to safeguard justice. By the way, this is merely an opinion piece. Happy to hear from Judge Gujarati in the form of a rebuttal.
I’m getting ready to cover the Alexander brothers’ case and I can’t help but look back at some of the travesties of justice I covered.
Honorable mention certainly belongs to US District Court Judge Diane Gujarati in Brooklyn who brought back witch trials and introduced brainwashing as a new, if nebulous, cause of forced labor. It’s gender specific, she ruled. Only women can be brainwashed – and hence be forced to labor – all the while thinking it was their own idea. It remains unclear if Judge Diane Gujarati believes only women can be witches.
The law or the US Constitution tasks the federal judiciary with maintaining balance in the courtroom. But in some judge’s courtrooms, prosecutorial power eclipses judicial authority.
The Day the Courtroom Tilted Sideways
An example was embarassingly seen during the OneTaste prosecution – Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz – defendants.
It was stark and patent when at one hearing, 20 federal agents arrived and appeared to influence Judge Diane Gujarati’s decisions.
Then, on another day, 20 prosecutors came. Ditto.
These two incidents had the desired effect. The feds came to send a message: The message was: The OneTaste case is important to the prosecutors in the Eastern District of NY and to the FBI NYC, and she had better ensure that they win.
Judge Diane Gujarati blinked and bent. She hushed defense objections. She shortened the time for the defense. The courtroom became a theater of fear, with the gavel placed respectfully, though seemingly covertly, but not so much so, into the government’s hands.
Judges are supposed to preside. It’s their stage. But sometimes the actors take over. Judge Gujarati looked over a room full of agents. The defense raised a hand. She looked away. The prosecutor nodded. She nodded back.
Can you blame her? EDNY prosecutors came in with silent threats. She folded. The illusion of authority dissolved at the sight of federal presence.
Picture the courtroom—four walls, one bench, and the illusion of fairness. Enter twenty government prosecutors one day and twenty FBI agents on another day – to see the proceedings.
The Screams of a Judge Who Knows She’s Wrong
What made the poor woman sweat? Twenty G-men breathing down her neck.
Poor woman. She looked like a deer in a prison spotlight. The defense presented a due process motion, a fair one, a real one – about a lying FBI agent – a perjuring, justice-obstructing FBI agent – and she said, “what’s that?” and slammed it shut without looking.
The key to her fear persona was the unnatural anger. She acted angry. She yelled and screamed. Screams of rage directed at defense attorney Jennifer Bonjean. But it was not real anger. These were guttural. They were primal. Screams of fear: Of terror.
She knew Bonjean was right. This was a due process travesty. But she had to convict, and so she was scared, and so she screamed.
The prosecutors? They got the floor, the room, the building. The robe she’s wearing might have been a uniform from the DOJ dry cleaners.
Don’t blame her. You can’t preside when you’re scared. You fold.
Judge Gujarati shortened arguments and silenced objections. She disallowed witnesses for the defense. She allowed the prosecutors to call the defendants witches – as if it were a bona fide witch trial, which it was.
Judge Gujarati fought for the infantilization of women, just as she was infantilized by being made a judge, though incompetent.
She let women (only women) say they were brainwashed in open court- like brainwashing is science, and after all, weak, infantile women can be brainwashed – we know that. We learned it in Judge Gujarati’s courtroom.
It would never work on men. Don’t even try. Men can’t be brainwashed.
OK. Best evidence: The woman on the bench is brainwashed – hypnotized by fear – and if a witch, a powerless one, flying on the prosecution’s broomstick and landing where they tell her.
An infantilized judge.
To the casual observer, the trial continued. But to anyone who’s been in the system, it was clear: the judge wasn’t leading. She was following. And the ones leading wore badges.
She gave the jury instructions to convict. And then she prayed, trembling perhaps in her chambers, that the jury would come back and do as she said. They did.
And the prosecutors and FBI agents smile and nod at her. She’s a good girl. She does as she’s told. Such a big girl. They’re going to allow her to set the punishment, which she couldn’t wait to do: she remanded the defendants before sentencing—evidently, a proud little girl.
Maybe she’s even big enough to get the next due process nightmare—say a jurist who reminded the jury that they could say “not guilty” just because.
