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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 248 Filed 04/26/21 Page4of9
LAW OFFICES OF BOBBI C. STERNHEIA\
Ms. Maxwell no longer feels that her legal papers are safe and believes that the
confidentiality required to prepare her defense for trial has been irreparably breached. She is
justifiably concerned that her defense documents and their contents have been improperly
reviewed and disseminated. The fact that the guards did not confront counsel but chose to
confiscate legal documents after Ms. Maxwell’s lawyers left the visiting area further validates
her suspicion and that of her counsel. In addition, Ms. Maxwell is fearful that she will be subject
to retaliation, baseless allegations, and unwarranted and unprovoked discipline.
Ms. Maxwell is an indicted pre-trial detainee who has asserted her right to counsel. Once
the right to counsel has attached and is asserted, as is the case here, the government must honor
it. This means more than that the government “cannot prevent the accused from obtaining the
assistance of counsel. The Sixth Amendment also imposes on the government an affirmative
obligation to respect and preserve the accused's choice to seek this assistance.” Maine v.
Moulton, 474 U.S. 159, 170-71 (1985).
The actions by the MDC guards violated Ms. Maxwell’s Sixth Amendment right to
effective assistance of counsel. Without any justifiable cause they seized and inspected legal
materials, failed to identify the materials seized, and withheld the materials for improper
purposes. Ms. Maxwell does not know if the materials were duplicated in some fashion, i.e.,
photocopied, scanned, or photographed. She does not know whether the MDC plans to give any
of these privileged and confidential materials or the information contained therein to the
prosecution or leak them to the press. And, given the prior treatment of Ms. Maxwell’s HIPPA-
protected medical information, these concerns are warranted.
Ms. Maxwell requests that the Court enter an order directing that the MDC, through its
legal counsel and/or warden, to provide to Ms. Maxwell’s attorneys, only, the following
information:
= the identity of the person or persons who seized the legal material;
= an inventory of the items seized;
= astatement, subject to penalty of perjury, regarding whether the materials were
duplicated in any fashion; and
= whether any disciplinary or corrective action was taken against any of the offending
guards.
Very truly yours,
BOBBI C. STERNHEIM
Encs.
cc: All counsel of record
DOJ-OGR-00004021
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Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00004021.jpg |
| File Size | 833.6 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.6% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,519 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 16:43:24.521898 |