The 92-year-old federal judge who's presiding over the historic narcoterrorism case against Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro was previously accused of falling asleep during another major trial, raising concerns about his ability to handle one of the most complex prosecutions ever brought in Manhattan federal court.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein appeared to nod off on the bench during dense testimony in the Charlie Javice fraud case, her defense attorneys stated after she was convicted in September.
The episode undermines confidence in the fairness of the proceedings, the lawyers wrote in a November post-conviction motion.
Javice, the founder of student financial-aid startup Frank, was sentenced to seven years in prison after she was convicted of defrauding JPMorgan Chase out of $175 million by vastly inflating the company's user numbers ahead of its 2021 sale to the bank.
The trial featured dense testimony about data analytics, customer metrics and due diligence, with jurors hearing from JPMorgan executives and outside advisers about how the bank relied on Frank's purported user database in approving the acquisition.
The nonagenarian judge ultimately sentenced Javice to seven years in prison, though her lawyers later moved to overturn the verdict, citing alleged judicial lapses and conflicts that surfaced only after sentencing.
According to a February report in the online news site ArtVoice, Hellerstein appeared to nod off during the second day of testimony as prosecutors walked the jury through distinctions involving Frank's data.
Ex-CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin pointed to the sleeping allegation as evidence that Hellerstein is no longer fit to preside over a case of enormous consequence.
In a New York Times op-ed, Toobin warned the jurist is simply "too old" to handle a prosecution of such global consequence.
Toobin, who was forced out of CNN after a 2020 incident in which he was caught masturbating during a Zoom call with colleagues, argued that Hellerstein should step aside from the Maduro case due to his advanced age and alleged lapses during court proceedings.
In the piece, Toobin wrote that "92 is 92 -- and counting."
The legal maven argued that the Maduro prosecution is so sprawling and unprecedented that it would be "a disservice to himself, to the parties in court, and to the cause of justice in America" for Hellerstein to remain on the case, especially given reports that the judge "was sleeping, at times, during the proceedings" in the Javice trial.
"The best way for him to honor the system to which he has devoted decades of his life would be to withdraw from the case," Toobin wrote, adding that Hellerstein is "simply too old, in my view, to preside over a matter of this magnitude."
The op-ed came after Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were arraigned in Manhattan federal court, where both pleaded not guilty to sweeping drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges -- a routine process that Toobin noted will be followed by months of complex pretrial litigation and a trial unlikely to begin until at least 2027.
In subsequent hearings, Hellerstein will be required to "decide a host of complex and even never-before-seen issues, including Mr. Maduro's potential immunity as a head of state, the legality of the seizure of the two defendants in Venezuela, and the state of their health and ability to stand trial," Toobin wrote.
By the time the Maduro trial begins in earnest, Hellerstein, who was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Bill Clinton in 1998, will be 93.
"The trial itself will then last many months, with the judge called upon to decide additional highly consequential issues under enormous public scrutiny," Toobin wrote.
The Post has sought comment from Manhattan federal court.