James Merrill’s evidence suppression motion denied

We haven’t quite reached Paul Burks levels of desperation yet, but James Merrill was certainly channeling him when he asked a court to suppress all evidence collected against him.

Merrill’s motion, if granted, would have effectively gutted the DOJ’s case against him – leaving the regulator unable to use any evidence obtained via seizure of TelexFree assets.

Given the evident lopsidedness such an order would create, yesterday Judge Hillman saw fit to deny Merrill’s motion in its entirety.

A memorandum accompanying Judge Hillman’s order was unavailable at time of publication.

The docket entry for Judge Hillman’s order simply states Merrill’s motions for a hearing and suppression of seized evidence are denied.

If the memorandum is made public I’ll publish an update below. Otherwise Merrill’s criminal trial remains scheduled to kick off on October 24th.

Stay tuned…

Footnote: Our thanks to Don@ASDUpdates for providing a copy of Judge Hillman’s August 31st order.

Update 7th September 2016 – Judge Hillman’s Memorandum accompanying his published order has been made public.