The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

UNITED States prosecutors have asked for more time to answer Jonathan “Player” Gardiner’s challenges to the New York drug case against him, citing his “multiple pretrial motions” ahead of a high-profile trial also involving former police Chief Superintendent Elvis Curtis.

In a letter to US District Judge Lewis J Liman filed on Tuesday, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York asked to push back their deadline to respond to Gardiner’s motions by a week, from October 30 to November 6. Gardiner’s deadline to reply would move from November 6 to November 13.

The government also asked for later deadlines on motions in limine, through which either side can ask the judge to rule in advance on what evidence and arguments the jury may hear. Those motions would be due on January 11, 2027 instead of January 4. Oppositions would be due on January 23 instead of January 11, and replies on February 1 instead of January 15.

Assistant US Attorneys Jonathan L Bodansky and Juliana N Murray said the extra time would allow the government to respond to Gardiner’s motions, avoid scheduling conflicts over the winter holidays and give both sides time to answer what they expect to be “potentially voluminous” motions in limine from multiple defendants.

They said all defendants consented to the request, the government’s first for an adjournment in the case. The letter does not seek to move the trial, which is set to begin on March 1, 2027.

Gardiner’s motions, filed earlier this month, ask the court to return $30,000 in cash seized from him and to suppress evidence. His attorney, Susy Ribero-Ayala, argues that officers opened a waterlogged notebook without a warrant and that a government affidavit painted a misleading picture of the money by leaving out that it was Election Day in The Bahamas. He has also sought dismissal of the charges, arguing that delays in bringing the case prejudiced his defence.

Gardiner, a convicted cocaine smuggler, was arrested after he and 10 others were rescued when their small plane crashed in waters off the US coast on May 12, the day of the general election. He has pleaded not guilty to cocaine importation conspiracy and firearms-related charges, and remains in custody after being denied bail.

US prosecutors allege he could supply more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine at a time to trafficking organisations, and that he used a business bidding on Bahamian government construction contracts to launder drug proceeds.

His case is linked to a November 2024 indictment of Curtis, the former head of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s Airport Division, and 12 others, which alleges that a trafficking network moved cocaine through The Bahamas with protection from corrupt Bahamian officials. Prosecutors allege that Curtis claimed a high-ranking Bahamian politician would facilitate drug shipments in exchange for $2m. Curtis has pleaded not guilty.

Former Royal Bahamas Defence Force Chief Petty Officer Darrin Roker has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to four years in prison, and Colombian co-accused Luis Fernando Orozco-Toro is set to change his plea.

Gardiner and the other defendants who have not pleaded guilty are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.