92-year-old judge hearing Maduro case allegedly dozed off during a crucial trial last year

A 92-year-old judge is presiding over the historic narcoterrorism case against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and some people think that having him undermines confidence in the fairness of the proceedings. Maduro's case is one of the most complex prosecutions ever in Manhattan federal court. Yet, a nonagenarian judge, who allegedly nodded off during a crucial case last year, has been chosen to deliver the ruling. Judge Alvin Hellerstein was hearing testimonies in the Charlie Javice fraud case when he apparently dozed off, according to her defence attorneys. Javice founded the student financial-aid startup Frank and then sold it to JPMorgan Chase. But she vastly inflated the user numbers and was convicted of defrauding the company out of $175 million. JPMorgan executives and outside advisers stated that
Javice's database played a huge role in approving the acquisition. The trial featured complex numbers, analytics and metrics, and she was ultimately sentenced to seven years in jail in September.

Judge Hellerstein slept during a trial

However, her lawyers filed an appeal based on claims that there were judicial lapses. What emerged were claims that during the second day of testimony, as prosecutors broke down Frank's data for the jury, Judge Hellerstein dozed off, as reported by the online news site ArtVoice. The sleeping allegation was highlighted recently by Ex-CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin in a New York Times op-ed. He wrote that falling asleep in the middle of a testimony is proof that Hellerstein is no longer fit and "too old" to handle such a consequential case. He thinks Hellerstein should remove himself from the case due to his age. He is “simply too old, in my view, to preside over a matter of this magnitude," he wrote.

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Toobin added, citing the allegation that Hellerstein slept during the Javice trial, that if he stays, it would be "a disservice to himself, to the parties in court, and to the cause of justice in America." “The best way for him to honour the system to which he has devoted decades of his life would be to withdraw from the case,” Toobin wrote. He pointed out that the case is expected to last months, and by the time a proper trial begins, he would have turned 93. Besides, there would be a lot to look at and decide. Hellerstein was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Bill Clinton in 1998.