By Cara Salvatore

Law360, New York (March 31, 2021, 4:47 PM EDT) -- Disbarred human rights lawyer Steven Donziger wants a New York federal judge to throw open the courthouse doors for his upcoming criminal trial, asking on Tuesday for multiple accommodations to broaden public access including a remote stream and use of the largest room available.

Donziger, via his defense lawyer Ron Kuby, asked U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska to implement measures that would allow the public to more easily view the trial beginning May 10 in the Southern District of New York. Donziger faces misdemeanor charges that he disobeyed court orders in an underlying civil case brought by Chevron after winning a multibillion-dollar environmental judgment against the oil company in Ecuador.

Though the trial "may be able" to be conducted safely, "entire groups of people will be prevented from accessing the courthouse" under current SDNY pandemic safety orders, Kuby wrote in a letter on Tuesday. He asked to move the trial to the biggest courtroom available, set up an overflow room for extra in-person capacity, and allow "remote audio-visual coverage."

Donziger, who has been under house arrest for more than 600 days, recently lost a Second Circuit bid to be freed. He had pointed out that his maximum sentence is six months in jail, but the Second Circuit deferred to Judge Preska's finding that Donziger still presents a flight risk given his "strong ties and extensive travel to Ecuador."

Donziger has been under home confinement since August 2019, when U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan directed that criminal contempt charges be filed against the now-disbarred attorney over his alleged refusal to comply with orders directing him to provide access to electronic devices, email and social media accounts for inspection in Chevron's 2011 civil case against him alleging fraud in the Ecuador case.

That judgment, in turn, stemmed from allegations that Chevron predecessor Texaco Inc. over decades destroyed natural resources and left Indigenous residents diseased by crude oil dumped in the Amazon rainforest.

In 2014, Judge Kaplan ruled in favor of Chevron, finding that Donziger manipulated the Ecuadorian judicial system through bribery and fraud, and blocked the $9.5 billion judgment from being enforced in the U.S. That ruling was later upheld by the Second Circuit.

In March 2019, years after the bench trial, Judge Kaplan issued an order for the collection, imaging and examination of Donziger's devices for Chevron's civil suit. The order required Donziger to provide a list of his devices to a forensic expert and surrender the devices and accounts for imaging.

Donziger did not follow either order, according to prosecutors, and would not do so until his "due process rights were respected." He says the devices and accounts hold sensitive client information.

Donziger told Law360 on Wednesday that the case has been "plagued with irregularities" that "raise important due process concerns and make a full public airing of the proceedings an absolute necessity to protect ... my Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial, the integrity of the federal judiciary as a whole, and the reputation of the United States in the eyes of the world given the many concerns that have been raised by trial monitors and other outside observers."

Representatives for the government were not immediately available for comment.

The government is represented by Rita Glavin and Sareen Armani of Glavin PLLC and Brian Maloney of Seward & Kissel LLP.

Donziger is represented by Ron Kuby and Rhiya Trivedi of Kuby Law.

The case is U.S. v. Donziger, case number 1:19-cr-00561, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

--Additional reporting by Stewart Bishop and Dorothy Atkins. Editing by Nicole Bleier.

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