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1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 WESTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ) 08-CR-54(WMS)
5 )
vs. )
6 ) Buffalo, New York
SHANE BUCZEK, ) November 25, 2008
7 Defendant. ) 10:33 a.m.
)
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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
10 BEFORE THE HONORABLE H. KENNETH SCHROEDER, JR.
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
11

12 TERRANCE P. FLYNN, ESQ.

United States Attorney
13 BY: ANTHONY BRUCE, ESQ.
Assistant United States Attorney
14 138 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14202
15

16 SHANE BUCZEK, Pro Se

17

18
AUDIO RECORDER: Lucille M. Petrik
19

20

21 TRANSCRIBER: Christi A. Macri, FAPR, RMR, CRR, CRI

Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building
22 100 State Street
Rochester, New York 14614-0222
23

24

25 (Proceedings recorded by electronic sound recording, transcript

produced by computer).

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1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 * * *

3 (WHEREUPON, the defendant is present).

4 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Good morning.

5 MR. BRUCE: Good morning, Your Honor.

6 THE DEFENDANT: Good morning.

7 MR. BRUCE: Judge, as you're aware, when we were last

8 here, there was some discussion about a potential plea agreement.

9 Mr. Buczek indicated that he had a copy of the plea

10 agreement. The Court set a schedule, essentially, for him to send

11 me whatever he thought should be changed or fixed or whatever --

12 and I apologize if I'm phrasing it wrong -- to the plea agreement.

13 I was to respond to that, and we were to have a report back today.

14 Since we were last here, Mr. Buczek has done nothing

15 with respect to the plea agreement. He has, in fact, sent some

16 more nonsense, if you will, to the United States Attorney's Office

17 and to me by e-mail.

18 And I have filed with the Court, although Judge Skretny

19 hasn't done anything with it yet, a motion to set this case for

20 trial, as this appears to be the only resolution.

21 I informed Mr. Buczek that his only alternatives are to

22 plea to the indictment or go to trial.

23 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Mr. Buczek, you will recall

24 that on October 21st, 2008, I had a long dissertation with you

25 about your insisting on representing yourself, but indicated that

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1 I was going to allow you to exercise that constitutional right

2 that you have, notwithstanding the dangers that are associated

3 with it.

4 And that it had been represented to me that the

5 Government had offered a plea agreement to you for your

6 consideration, and that I directed that you respond to that offer

7 no later than November 7th, 2008, in writing; and that the

8 Government was to respond by November 14th with respect to any

9 counter-offer that you might have made; and that you were then to

10 respond or reply to whatever was filed by the Government by way of

11 its November 14th communication by November 21st, 2008.

12 My review of the docket, as well as what has been

13 represented by counsel for the Government, indicates that you have

14 not responded in any way to the initial plea offer and, therefore,

15 I can only conclude --

16 THE DEFENDANT: Judge, I object to that because I did

17 respond November 7th on the deadline.

18 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Where did you file it?

19 THE DEFENDANT: I did a petition for post settlement and

20 closure of the account under Public Policy --

21 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: I'm sorry, what did you say?

22 THE DEFENDANT: It's a petition for post settlement and

23 closure of the account and I --

24 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: I don't know what that

25 means.

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1 THE DEFENDANT: What I did is I responded with my

2 acceptance in value of all the charges in the indictment --

3 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Then are you prepared to go

4 forward because -- wait. Are you prepared to go forward before

5 Judge Skretny and enter a plea to the indictment?

6 THE DEFENDANT: Judge, I'm --

7 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: That's what you just said

8 you're willing to do.

9 THE DEFENDANT: I responded with my acceptance of offer,

10 okay?

11 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Okay, if you accepted the

12 offer, that means you are now offering to plead guilty to the

13 charges.

14 THE DEFENDANT: I have no controversy here.

15 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Fine, then let's schedule it

16 in front of Judge Skretny then.

17 THE DEFENDANT: I did not plead a not guilty plea.

18 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Pardon me?

19 THE DEFENDANT: I did not take a not guilty plea at all.

20 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: I understand. All I'm

21 saying to you then is if that's your position that you want to

22 dispose of this case by entering a plea of guilty to the charges

23 in the indictment, all that needs to be done is to schedule a plea

24 in front of Judge Skretny.

25 THE DEFENDANT: Your Honor, what's my remedy?

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1 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: That's your remedy, plead

2 guilty, if that's what you say you want to do.

3 THE DEFENDANT: Well, Judge, I accepted everything for

4 value in the indictment.

5 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Okay.

6 THE DEFENDANT: And everything's in the petition.

7 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Mr. Buczek, listen to me

8 one last time. You have the indictment that charges you with

9 violations of certain laws of the United States.

10 You have now told me that you accept responsibility for

11 those charges and that you are willing to plead guilty to those

12 charges.

13 If that is the case, then all that needs to be done to

14 complete this matter is for you and Mr. Bruce to go upstairs and

15 schedule a date with Judge Skretny's clerk for entry of your plea

16 of guilty to the charges in the indictment.

17 Judge Skretny will then give you a date, and on that

18 date you will appear and you will go through a process called a

19 "Rule 11 allocution" under the Federal Rules of Criminal

20 Procedure.

21 If Judge Skretny is satisfied that you have made a

22 knowing and voluntary decision to enter a plea of guilty to the

23 charges, he will accept your plea of guilty; he will then schedule

24 a date for sentencing on that plea.

25 There will be a presentence investigation conducted by

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1 the United States Probation Office. A presentence report will be

2 prepared by the United States Probation Office; you will be given

3 a copy of that report, the Government will be given a copy of that

4 report, and Judge Skretny will be given a copy of that report.

5 And if there is no reason for setting aside your plea of

6 guilty or allowing you to withdraw it, you will then be sentenced

7 and the case will be ended. That's all it takes.

8 THE DEFENDANT: Judge, I understand.

9 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: What are we talking about

10 now?

11 THE DEFENDANT: I just want to make a judicial notice on

12 27 C.F.R. 72.11. I'm sure you read my post settlement closure,

13 haven't you?

14 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: I have, but I can't make

15 sense out of it.

16 THE DEFENDANT: Okay. Well, 27 C.F.R. 72.11 says all

17 crimes are commercial. All I'm doing, all I'm doing is following

18 public policy. There is no controversy. I have not taken a not

19 guilty plea or anything.

20 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: I know.

21 THE DEFENDANT: I am accepting --

22 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: When you say you're

23 accepting responsibility, that means you are willing to plead

24 guilty.

25 THE DEFENDANT: I accept for value all the charges in

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1 this indictment, Judge.

2 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Okay, that means you're

3 pleading guilty to those charges.

4 THE DEFENDANT: And I just want to take judicial notice

5 of 27 --

6 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: You can't take judicial

7 notice, you're not a judge.

8 THE DEFENDANT: No, I'm just mentioning to the Court

9 judicial notice of 27 C.F.R. 72.11, and it's in the petition. I

10 don't believe there's any --

11 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Let me ask you a very simple

12 question, Mr. Buczek.

13 THE DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor.

14 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Are you willing to plead

15 guilty to the charges in the indictment?

16 THE DEFENDANT: I just want to have my account adjusted.

17 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Yes or no?

18 THE DEFENDANT: Judge, I --

19 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Yes or no?

20 THE DEFENDANT: I --

21 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Yes or no?

22 THE DEFENDANT: I would have to plead guilty to the

23 facts, but not the crime.

24 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Are you willing to plead

25 guilty to the charges in the indictment, yes or no?

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1 THE DEFENDANT: No, Judge.

2 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Fine, then we will send it

3 upstairs so Judge Skretny can schedule a trial date.

4 THE DEFENDANT: Okay.

5 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: That's the way it works.

6 There will be a trial. You will have your day in court. You will

7 be able to expound whatever it is you feel you need to expound in

8 your defense.

9 But there's nothing more for me to do in this case.

10 There are no motions pending, there is nothing in my jurisdiction

11 that I can do, so it's a matter now of you going upstairs with

12 Mr. Bruce and getting a trial date. That's it, plain and simple.

13 So I direct the two of you to do that.

14 MR. BRUCE: 17 or 18 minutes, Judge, we'll go up and do

15 it.

16 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: Forthwith, go up now.

17 That's it.

18 THE DEFENDANT: Can I put one more thing on the record?

19 MAGISTRATE JUDGE SCHROEDER: No, no, there's nothing

20 more for me to do. I don't have jurisdiction to do anything else.

21 Go with Mr. Bruce up to the fifth floor to get a trial date.

22 And if you don't go up there, Mr. Bruce, you're

23 authorized to tell Judge Skretny I said that you can get a trial

24 date ex parte because Mr. Buczek has not followed through with

25 what I've just directed him to do.

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1 So, Mr. Buczek, I suggest you go with Mr. Bruce and get

2 that trial date.

3 THE DEFENDANT: Thank you, Your Honor.

4 MR. BRUCE: Thank you, Your Honor.

5 (WHEREUPON, the proceedings adjourned at 10:41 a.m.)

7 CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIBER

9 I certify that the foregoing is a correct transcript from the

10 official electronic sound recording of the proceedings in the

11 above-entitled matter.

12

13 S/ Christi A. Macri

14 Christi A. Macri, FAPR-RMR-CRR-CRI

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