Maduro Case Judge Dies at 92 in New York
Alvin Hellerstein, the US judge overseeing the case against deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, has died aged 92, an official confirmed on Wednesday. The Maduro case judge passed away in New York, just short of his 93rd birthday, according to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
As one of the oldest US federal judges, questions had been raised about whether he was the right justice to preside over what could be a prolonged trial for Mr Maduro on drug trafficking charges. His death was confirmed by an official at the court where he presided.
A long career on the federal bench
Judge Hellerstein’s lengthy career included overseeing the civil cases arising from Al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, often rejecting deals he saw as unfair to complainants. He also handled litigation over abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and cases involving prominent business executives and political figures.
He tangled with Donald Trump, rejecting a request by the US president to have his New York hush money case moved to federal court. Last year, he blocked the Trump administration from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without a court hearing.
In a noteworthy 2015 ruling, Judge Hellerstein ordered the US government to release a trove of photos depicting abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also presided over a trial last year in which a jury found French banking giant BNP Paribas’s work in Sudan had helped prop up the regime of former ruler Omar al-Bashir, awarding 20.75 million dollars in damages to three plaintiffs from Sudan.
A graduate of Columbia University law school, he served as a lawyer in the US Army from 1957 to 1960 before entering private practice. He was nominated by then president Bill Clinton in 1998 to be a district court judge for the Southern District of New York, and he served on that bench for more than 25 years.
What the Maduro case judge’s death means now
Judge Hellerstein handled the sprawling drug trafficking case linked to Mr Maduro for over a decade, which has already seen the conviction of Venezuela’s former intelligence chief, Hugo Armando Carvajal. Mr Maduro was seized by US forces in January in a military raid on his compound in Venezuela.
US media reported that the court will randomly assign a new judge to take over Mr Maduro’s case and Judge Hellerstein’s other pending matters. A former federal prosecutor told CBS News that the transition does not automatically suspend proceedings or impose a fixed delay, although the replacement judge may need time to review the records.
The case had a trial date of June 1, 2027, set at a hearing in July 2026, according to the caption on a Reuters courtroom sketch of that hearing. Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face charges that include conspiracy to commit torture, under a superseding indictment filed in early October, US media reported.
Barry Pollack, an attorney for Mr Maduro, said in a message to CBS News: “We were saddened to learn of Judge Hellerstein’s passing and offer our condolences to his family.”
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Judge Hellerstein was “an insightful and dedicated lawyer” who “served with distinction for over 25 years as a distinguished jurist of this court”. She added: “His energetic and dedicated service to this Court continued until his death. He is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed.”
Why the change of judge matters
A change of judge in a case of this scale is never routine. The new judge will inherit thousands of pages of filings, a decade of related proceedings and a trial timetable that already stretches into 2027. Even without a formal delay, the handover will take time, and lawyers on both sides will watch closely for any sign that the new judge approaches pre-trial rulings differently.
