Judge turns down motion to supress evidence in drug case

A U.S. District Court Judge has denied motions to suppress evidence collected on wiretaps that were filed by a number of the defendants in the wide-ranging case centered on the administration of illegal substances to both Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses, according to a court filing in the case.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York told the defendants who filed the motions that she intended to deny the motions at a status conference conducted Thursday morning in her courtroom, according to the filing. Vyskocil told the defendants that a “written opinion is forthcoming,” the filing said.

Jason Servis, the former trainer of 2019 3-year-old champion Maximum Security, was among the defendants who asked for the motion to suppress. Attorneys for Servis, who did not reply to requests for comment by Thursday afternoon, had asked for evidence collected on wiretaps of his phone to be suppressed under the contention that the law-enforcements officials who asked for authorization for the wiretaps had “materially misled” a judge in their filings.

The motion to suppress was considered critical to the defense of the case, which rests largely on statements made by the defendants recorded by law-enforcement officials, according to the indictments of the individuals. Prosecutors also seized voluminous records from manufacturers and distributors of illegal substances in a case in which all the defendants are facing federal charges of “adulteration and misbranding of drugs.”

Servis has entered a not guilty plea. Vyskocil also ruled on Thursday that Servis will be tried with three other defendants – Erica Garcia, Michael Tannuzzo, and Alexander Chan – in the third trial grouping, which has not set trial date yet. The first grouping is scheduled to go on trial “on or about” Jan. 19, according to the filing.

Of the 27 individuals originally indicted in the case, nine have changed their not guilty pleas to guilty, including the Thoroughbred trainer Jorge Navarro. Navarro is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 17.