By Frank Parlato
In the US District Court for the Eastern District of NY, Judge Diane Gujarati orchestrated a trial to ensure a jury found Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz guilty of forced labor conspiracy – a precedent-setting case. The trial actually spoke of coercion through brainwashing and invoked testimony that the two women might be witches – literally.
That qualifies it – actually also literally – as a witch trial.
The women had no record. They had not fled. They had not harmed anyone – not physically – only brainwashed some pretty stupid women-victim witnesses said.
But Judge Diane Gujarati put the two defendants, Daedone and Cherwitz – in jail anyway before sentencing.
She said the reason was the media campaign. She said it was too aggressive. It had called out the prosecutors, the witnesses, and the judge herself. The campaign ran hard in the libertarian press, in conservative corners. Reason. Revolver. Dr. Phil. And an untidy little publication called the Frank Report.
All of it pushing back. All of it saying the case was wrong.
Roger Stone said it first. Then Matt Gaetz. They said if the government can ruin the freaks, they’ll come for the rest of us next. That’s how it starts.
Jennifer Bonjean, the lawyer, said the case was about the fear of women who speak about sex and God in the same breath. Fear of freedom. She said locking them up was punishment for telling their story. The courtroom wasn’t enough. The judge wanted silence, too. So the two women are in MDC Brooklyn now. Waiting. Cold steel bunks – Rotting food. Cut off from the world. For talking too much. For believing something strange. For not backing down.
The Logo That Crossed the Line
Then there was a logo, the judge said. A swastika laid over the seal of the Department of Justice – appearing on the Frank Report—designed by this writer. The judge didn’t like it. She said it crossed a line. Maybe it did. Maybe it was just too true.
The prosecutors didn’t ask to lock them up before sentencing. But Judge Gujarati did it anyway. She said it was about witness intimidation. She said the supporters were the problem. Not violence. Just some supporters who knew the witnesses — knew them well — questioning their honesty. Just questioning their honesty. They were dishonest. They had already testified. Nothing was going to change anything. And if it was the supporters, why punish Daedone?
Judge Gujarati said the defense leaked sealed documents. What of it? It’s not violence. It’s not flight. It’s not a reason to cage a woman. She said Marcus Ratnathicam made witnesses uncomfortable because he asked an FBI agent a question about another FBI agent. That was enough to call it intimidation.
Not Guilt—But Dissent
The truth is simpler. The judge didn’t like the media criticizing her. She did not like the noise. The women had too many people speaking for them. And so the judge silenced them. Not for what they did. But for what others said.
She didn’t like being part of the story. She wasn’t pro–First Amendment. She was pro–control.
Daedone and Cherwitz had been free for two years from indictment to trial. No violence. No fleeing. They showed up. Followed the rules. But then the trial ended, and the judge threw them in jail.
Why?
It wasn’t about danger. It was about silence. The judge made that clear. Not with words. With bars. She didn’t jail them for what they did. She jailed them for what was said. And that is something else entirely.
She didn’t care that it came from outside the courtroom. From publicists. From strangers. From supporters. From reporters that saw the reprehensible things she had done. From people not on trial.
She used it to lock them up. She wasn’t for free speech. Not here. She saw speech as a threat. Saw defense as a danger.
Ground Down in Brooklyn
Now Daedone and Cherwitz are in Brooklyn MDC. No phones. No quiet. No freedom to fight back. Brooklyn MDC is not cozy. It’s rats and rot. It’s lockdowns and silence—a place built to grind people down slowly. You break a woman faster in a cage. You make her tired.
They were media-savvy, loud, and unafraid. They can’t speak to the press. They can’t help their lawyers with an appeal. They can’t tell their side. That’s the point. You silence her without saying it.
That’s why Judge Gujarati put Daedone and Cherwitz in MDC before the sentencing. Not because they ran. Not because they hurt anyone. Because they spoke.
They ran a campaign. They told the press their side. They embarrassed the Department. They embaarrassed the judge – who is more savage than the DOJ ever thought to be.
The judge didn’t need the prosecutors to ask. She didn’t need proof of danger. She needed obedience. She didn’t get it. So she took their freedom.
It’s not justice. It’s a warning. It’s a message to future defendants.
Speak up, and we’ll shut you up. Call it unfair, and we’ll make it worse. Raise your voice, and we’ll bury it behind bars. And we’ll have the last laugh. We laways have the last laugh.
