In a striking decision, a federal judge said he “remains troubled” by how federal prosecutors in Western New York provide defendants with evidence that could help their defense.
“The government seems to approach its discovery obligations by finding ways not to disclose evidence and excuses for not disclosing it sooner or at all,” U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo said in a July 27 decision, which he unsealed last week.
That decision followed Vilardo’s ruling on July 6 suppressing evidence in which he questioned the federal government’s discovery practices.
The judge’s on-the-record criticism has come while presiding over a case in which prosecutors and defense attorneys have fought over evidence against accused killer and drug trafficker Lavon Parks of Niagara Falls, whose trial begins Monday. The judge disallowed some of the government’s evidence, including 71,000 pages of downloaded information from Parks’ iPhone. He also tossed out a statement made by a now-deceased witness near the scene of where Parks allegedly shot and killed 21-year-old Kevin Turner on Jan. 21, 2018, in Niagara Falls. Vilardo also excluded the testimony of a witness who has not been identified in publicly available court filings.
Lavon Parks, 32, and his father, James C. Parks, 58, face narcotics and firearms charges. The most serious one – discharge of a firearm causing death – would imprison them for at least 10 years and possibly…
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