BUFFALO — Suspended Falls police officer Ryan Warme is now asking a U.S. District Court judge for two separate trials on a federal indictment that charges him with multiple sex crime-related civil rights violations as well as gun and drug counts.
The filing made with Chief U.S. District Court Judge Richard Arcara follows an earlier ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh Scott, who found Warme’s request for two trials should be considered by the judge who would handle those trials.
Warme’s defense is seeking one trial on the so-called sex crimes and a second trial on the gun and drug charges. He is accused of violating the civil rights of three women by sexually assaulting or abusing them, using his position as a police officer to extort sexual favors from a Falls prostitute, conspiring to distribute both powdered and crack cocaine, committing federal firearms offenses and failing to arrest a known felon who was in possession of a weapon.
Defense attorney Joel Daniels has argued that Warme needed to have two trials, not one, to protect his rights. Prosecutors have said Warme should only get a single trial because all the charges against him are “bundled together.”
in his request to Arcara, Daniels repeats may of the claims he made to Scott. He also included an affidavit from Warme in which he asks to take the stand in his own defense on the sex crime charges.
“He (Warme) says, ‘I am willing to testify in the sex cases, but I am asserting my Fifth Amendment right (against self-incrimination) on the drugs and guns.’,” Daniels said. “We believe the grounds are there and the law is on our side in this (judicial) district.”
Daniels also included in his filing a copy of a decision, issued by Arcara in the case of Newfane dentist accused of embezzling money from Laborers Local 91 by filing false and fraudulent claims to the union’s dental plan and committing tax evasion. In that case, Daniels, who is the dentist’s defense attorney, made similar arguments to those he has made from Warme.
He told Arcara that the dentist wanted to take the stand, in his own defense, on the embezzlement charge, but not on the fraud and tax evasion counts.
Arcara granted the request and ordered two trials in that case.
Daniels is also asking Arcara to review Scotts’ recommendation that his effort to have several counts of the indictment against Warme dismissed be denied. Scott had rejected claims that some of the charges lodged against Warme were unconstitutional.
Yet, in a new 23-page filing with Arcara, Warme’s defense team again claims that three of the 11 counts in the indictment are unconstitutional. In the filing Daniels argues Warme can not be charged with a crime (under the Hobbs Act) that relates to obtaining “property” through extortion, when the “property” is an act of oral sex.
“The act was completed, it was over,” Daniels writes in the filing. “The sexual favor was performed. There was nothing left to transfer, assign, sell or otherwise.”
Federal prosecutors are expected to reply to the latest Warme filing in the next few weeks.
Courts
COURTS: Warme makes new push
Also appeals to U.S. District Court judge to have some charges dismissed
- Courts
-
-
Hayes sentence delayed in homicide case
Wilbert Hayes III was behind bars on Monday but not to begin serving his sentence for the slaying of Donald Tyree Nix.
-
In Lockport, Man faces extradition in Vegas fraud
A former Las Vegas resident picked up at the U.S.-Canadian border on Nevada securities fraud charges was ordered held for extradition from New York on Monday, after a judge rejected his claim of diplomatic immunity.
-
Another Mehta defendant gets probation
A Sanborn woman has escaped a jail term after her guilty plea to a federal drug charge.
-
Another deal made in Mehta case
A Falls man will spend a year on federal probation for his guilty plea in a wide-ranging probe of prescription drug abuse centered around former Falls physician Pravin Mehta.
-
Mehta defendant gets “time served”
A Falls resident caught up in a joint federal and local law enforcement investigation into prescription drug trafficking, involving former Falls physician Pravin Mehta, will not have to spend more time behind bars.
-
NU player gets dismissal in sex abuse case
A Niagara University basketball player, arrested in a sexual abuse related case has had that charge dismissed.
-
Case adjourned for Wilson teachers accused of having sex at Bills game
Two Wilson School District teachers charged with public lewdness had their case adjourned this week for a possible dismissal.
-
Drug mule pleads guilty in federal court
A man who ferried marijuana from a Canadian Indian Reservation to the Falls has cut a plea deal with federal prosecutors.
-
Gross prepared for prison term
A host of the Niagara Region’s famous and infamous are asking a federal judge to give Falls contractor and convicted felon John Gross a break later today.
-
Hayes opts for plea in stabbing death
For Wilbert Hayes III, going to trial was just too much of a risk.
- More Courts Headlines
-
Hayes sentence delayed in homicide case
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
