New York City – Three of the four defendants charged in connection with the overdose death of 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici at a Bronx, New York, day care last fall appeared in Manhattan federal court Tuesday for a pretrial hearing. did.
Leni Antonio Parra Paredes, handcuffed, ankles shackled and wearing a tan prison uniform, slouched in a chair as his lawyer argued his bail application. His attorney, John Francis Cayley, said his client was not a flight risk or a danger to the community.
Eight of Parra Paredes' family members have stepped up and are willing to sign any amount of bond if he is released. Cayley also suggested home confinement, electronic monitoring and release to Parra-Paredes' mother, which Judge Jed Rakoff joked would be “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Carlisto Brito is taken to court. (Fox News)
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The government argued that Parra-Paredes was a danger to the community because he had been preparing and packaging drugs for at least six months prior to his arrest. He said there were many times when he felt sick from the drugs. They also said the day care tragedy would not have stopped him.
The government said the children's father, Parra Paredes, who lives in the Dominican Republic, was a flight risk and the only reason he didn't initially flee was because he didn't know authorities were looking for him.
One-year-old Nicholas Dominici overdosed at a day care in the Bronx, New York City. (Ferris family)
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After hearing arguments from both sides, Rakoff denied the bail application, saying Parra-Paredes remains a danger to the community and a flight risk.
Defendant Parra Paredes and his three co-defendants, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, Felix Herrera Garcia, and Gray Mendez, are charged with distribution of narcotics resulting in death and possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in death. He is charged with conspiracy.
Felix Garcia, one of the defendants in the overdose case of a 1-year-old boy in the Bronx. (Fox News)
The defendants are accused of poisoning four children during a drug operation at a daycare center last fall.
Gray Mendez appeared in court Tuesday after being charged in connection with the 1-year-old's overdose. (Fox News)
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Three of the children became ill and Dominici died. Police said they found one kilogram of fentanyl under the mat where the children were napping. Acevedo-Brito, Herrera-Garcia and Menendez are also charged in state court.
The federal trial is scheduled to begin June 10th.
