Written by James Johnson
The year was 2020. “The Box” by Roddy Ricch was at the top of the charts, the “Invisible Man” was tearing up the box office and inside of a majestic-facade Manhattan court room in the Southern District of New York, Carl “Dashawn” Andrews was on trial for his horrendous sex trafficking conduct across the New York area. This was not Mr. Andrews’ first brush with the law. In February 2019, at the time of his arrest, he had already credited 17 prior convictions to his criminal resume. He cared not for whom he harmed in his quest for personal wealth and local notoriety.
In early 2019, Mr. Andrews was charged in a multi-count federal indictment which levied that he, and around a dozen cohorts, engaged in “fraud, force and coercion” as they ruthlessly forced women into the sex trade. As one victim described it, Mr. Andrews would exploit her addiction to drugs by leveraging the amount that he supplied her with against how many commercial sex clients she engaged with. If her performance was deemed sub-par, she would not receive an adequate dose of narcotics and fall into the ubiquitous “dope-sick” phase, a state of being that many former addicts liken to being near death.
As the gavel dropped and proceedings began, jurists, jurors and onlookers learned just how diabolical Mr. Andrews’ conduct was. During one point in testimony, a victim relayed to the jury a time when she alerted Mr. Andrews that a client wanted her to defecate on him, something she was understandably uncomfortable with. The victim assumed that even Mr. Andrews would balk at something as vile at this yet he angrily replied, “you can’t turn that down,” cementing just how little he truly cared about her.
Testimony continued and we all learned the terror and torment Mr. Andrews subjected his victim to all in the name of greed and personal benefit. We learned that he billed himself as a protector but when a victim needed help, or was afraid, he was never around. We learned that he would become so blind by rage that he placed his hands on a victim’s throat, placing her in enormous fear, pain and physical danger. We learned about his propensity toward violence and his indifference toward those he viewed merely as his own personal cash register, leaving broken lives along his trail of destruction.
It was soon time for the jury to decide his fate yet, as the world would become all too familiar with, a new disease was ravaging the globe. As Mr. Andrews’ trial was coming to an end, Covid-19 was just ramping up and before long, life as we all knew it came to a screeching halt. So too did the proceedings against Mr. Andrews and in late March of 2020, a mistrial was declared due to the pandemic’s closure of the world.
As the months ticked on and COVID-19 ran its course, Mr. Andrews’ case fell into a state of hiatus, that is until his attorneys filed a series of motions that ultimately resulted in federal prosecutors refiling charges in the Eastern District of New York. In the new filings, not only was Mr. Andrews charged with sex trafficking but also additional narcotics-trafficking-related offenses. As his new trial was approaching, a decision was made that Mr. Andrews would actually face two separate trials: one for the sex trafficking offenses and another for the narcotics offenses. The narcotics-related trial would be first followed by a sex trafficking trial. This would mean that witnesses and victims would now be testifying in a total of three separate trials!
In the late summer of 2021 Mr. Andrews began his second trial in the Eastern District of New York. Again, testimony would reveal his motives and blatant disregard for anyone in the way of those nefarious aspirations. We learned of his narcotics procurement and sales, how he peddled poison throughout our communities and ultimately, a jury of his peers convicted him on all counts.
While all breathed a sigh of relief, it was unfortunately short-lived as his third trial would be coming up in the not-so-distant future. Realizing that this would be a thrice traumatic reliving of events for victims and witnesses, federal prosecutors felt no other choice but to dismiss the remaining charges and hope the sentencing in the narcotics trafficking conviction would be appropriate enough to address the overwhelming sex trafficking evidence already introduced to the court in the original SDNY trial.
In the summer of 2023 Carl Andrews was sentenced to nearly ten years in prison followed by a significant postrelease-supervision clause. His victims could finally rest easy and enjoy a much-deserved sense of justice and relief. However, as is sadly common in this saga, that relief was also short-lived.
On his final stretch in office, President Joe Biden authorized a series of blanket pardons which, as we are learning now, lacked the proper vetting and review. One such pardon was that of Carl Andrews whom the Biden administration seemed to mistakenly view as a “low-level” narcotics offender. Yet, had anyone in the Department of Justice bothered to review even a brief synopsis of the court transcripts, they would immediately learn that there was more to Mr. Andrews’ story. Like former acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon noted in her recent Wall Street Journal opinion, “…Mr. Andrews was undeserving of the clemency he was granted in “careless” fashion.”
How many other Andrews-type examples are out there in the wake of mass pardons? How many other victims are experiencing regret, betrayal, anger, resentment and sleepless nights?
This is a bi-partisan issue. Pardons should be wielded like a scalpel not a broadsword. Cases need thoughtful and painstaking review before considering a pardon. They cannot be used as political currency to advance ideologies or reward supporters on any side. We owe it to ourselves and the victims that we swore to protect to do better and uphold the standard of law that makes this nation so unique and amazing.
One can only hope that the silver-lining to this travesty of justice is a cautionary tale emerges and our elected officials wholeheartedly embrace this responsibility going forward.
The year was 2020. “The Box” by Roddy Ricch was at the top of the charts, the “Invisible Man” was tearing up the box office and inside of a majestic-facade Manhattan court room in the Southern District of New York, Carl “Dashawn” Andrews was on trial for his horrendous sex trafficking conduct across the New York area. This was not Mr. Andrews’ first brush with the law. In February 2019, at the time of his arrest, he had already credited 17 prior convictions to his criminal resume. He cared not for whom he harmed in his quest for personal wealth and local notoriety.
In early 2019, Mr. Andrews was charged in a multi-count federal indictment which levied that he, and around a dozen cohorts, engaged in “fraud, force and coercion” as they ruthlessly forced women into the sex trade. As one victim described it, Mr. Andrews would exploit her addiction to drugs by leveraging the amount that he supplied her with against how many commercial sex clients she engaged with. If her performance was deemed sub-par, she would not receive an adequate dose of narcotics and fall into the ubiquitous “dope-sick” phase, a state of being that many former addicts liken to being near death.
As the gavel dropped and proceedings began, jurists, jurors and onlookers learned just how diabolical Mr. Andrews’ conduct was. During one point in testimony, a victim relayed to the jury a time when she alerted Mr. Andrews that a client wanted her to defecate on him, something she was understandably uncomfortable with. The victim assumed that even Mr. Andrews would balk at something as vile at this yet he angrily replied, “you can’t turn that down,” cementing just how little he truly cared about her.
Testimony continued and we all learned the terror and torment Mr. Andrews subjected his victim to all in the name of greed and personal benefit. We learned that he billed himself as a protector but when a victim needed help, or was afraid, he was never around. We learned that he would become so blind by rage that he placed his hands on a victim’s throat, placing her in enormous fear, pain and physical danger. We learned about his propensity toward violence and his indifference toward those he viewed merely as his own personal cash register, leaving broken lives along his trail of destruction.
It was soon time for the jury to decide his fate yet, as the world would become all too familiar with, a new disease was ravaging the globe. As Mr. Andrews’ trial was coming to an end, Covid-19 was just ramping up and before long, life as we all knew it came to a screeching halt. So too did the proceedings against Mr. Andrews and in late March of 2020, a mistrial was declared due to the pandemic’s closure of the world.
As the months ticked on and COVID-19 ran its course, Mr. Andrews’ case fell into a state of hiatus, that is until his attorneys filed a series of motions that ultimately resulted in federal prosecutors refiling charges in the Eastern District of New York. In the new filings, not only was Mr. Andrews charged with sex trafficking but also additional narcotics-trafficking-related offenses. As his new trial was approaching, a decision was made that Mr. Andrews would actually face two separate trials: one for the sex trafficking offenses and another for the narcotics offenses. The narcotics-related trial would be first followed by a sex trafficking trial. This would mean that witnesses and victims would now be testifying in a total of three separate trials!
In the late summer of 2021 Mr. Andrews began his second trial in the Eastern District of New York. Again, testimony would reveal his motives and blatant disregard for anyone in the way of those nefarious aspirations. We learned of his narcotics procurement and sales, how he peddled poison throughout our communities and ultimately, a jury of his peers convicted him on all counts.
While all breathed a sigh of relief, it was unfortunately short-lived as his third trial would be coming up in the not-so-distant future. Realizing that this would be a thrice traumatic reliving of events for victims and witnesses, federal prosecutors felt no other choice but to dismiss the remaining charges and hope the sentencing in the narcotics trafficking conviction would be appropriate enough to address the overwhelming sex trafficking evidence already introduced to the court in the original SDNY trial.
In the summer of 2023 Carl Andrews was sentenced to nearly ten years in prison followed by a significant postrelease-supervision clause. His victims could finally rest easy and enjoy a much-deserved sense of justice and relief. However, as is sadly common in this saga, that relief was also short-lived.
On his final stretch in office, President Joe Biden authorized a series of blanket pardons which, as we are learning now, lacked the proper vetting and review. One such pardon was that of Carl Andrews whom the Biden administration seemed to mistakenly view as a “low-level” narcotics offender. Yet, had anyone in the Department of Justice bothered to review even a brief synopsis of the court transcripts, they would immediately learn that there was more to Mr. Andrews’ story. Like former acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle Sassoon noted in her recent Wall Street Journal opinion, “…Mr. Andrews was undeserving of the clemency he was granted in “careless” fashion.”
How many other Andrews-type examples are out there in the wake of mass pardons? How many other victims are experiencing regret, betrayal, anger, resentment and sleepless nights?
This is a bi-partisan issue. Pardons should be wielded like a scalpel not a broadsword. Cases need thoughtful and painstaking review before considering a pardon. They cannot be used as political currency to advance ideologies or reward supporters on any side. We owe it to ourselves and the victims that we swore to protect to do better and uphold the standard of law that makes this nation so unique and amazing.
One can only hope that the silver-lining to this travesty of justice is a cautionary tale emerges and our elected officials wholeheartedly embrace this responsibility going forward.
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