A federal judge in California has revised the rules governing Michael Avenatti’s temporary release from federal lockup our to COVID-19, enacting strict measures to ensure that the attorney-turned-convicted felon does not have recreational internet access.
Law and Crime reports:
In a three-page order, U.S. District Judge James V. Selna of the Central District of California said that Avenatti may have access to a computer for the purpose of reviewing discovery in both of the cases against him, provided that computer has no internet access.
The computer, which will be provided by his defense attorney, must be have “Net Disabler computer software or a comparable software program” to ensure Avenatti cannot access the internet when using the computer.
“Defense counsel shall maintain the password for the Net Disabler software and shall not share the password with defendant or any other person,” Selna wrote. “Within 24 hours of defendant obtaining an internet-disabled computer, defendant and/or his counsel shall provide the United States Probation and Pretrial Services Office and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California with a description of the computer and confirm in writing that the computer’s internet access has been disabled.“
Prosecutors alleged Sunday that Avenatti, former attorney to faded porn star Stormy Daniels, may have violated his temporary prison release agreement by using a computer with internet access.
CNN reported that court filings from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California accused the celebrity lawyer of violating “the conditions of his temporary release by using his third-party custodian Jay Manheimer’s internet-accessible computer to draft his last five filings in this case.”
“At a minimum, defendant and his counsel have not been candid with this Court,” prosecutors continued, alleging that Avenatti used a computer owned by his beleaguered friend, Manheimer, to access the internet in order to write and file motions in his case.
Avenatti’s attorney Dean Steward responded in a filing denying the government’s allegations, claiming that the prosecution’s accusations were based on an erroneous understanding of metadata information and rejecting the idea that Avenatti’s team had misled the court about his access to a computer.
“Mr. Avenatti has not violated any of his conditions of release,” the filings read. “Mr. Avenatti is able to review documents with his counsel via email between Mr. Manheimer and counsel. Mr. Manheimer is then able to print those documents for Mr. Avenatti to review.”
In April, a judge granted him temporary release due to concerns brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak. Under the agreement, Avenatti was not supposed to leave his house or access the internet.
