*1 WHEREAS, plaintiff brought this action asserting claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for malicious prosecution and unlawful pre- trial detention, and defendants deny any liability;??

WHEREAS, defendants requested copies from the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York (“OSNP”) of the materials OSNP produced to plaintiff in discovery in his criminal prosecution, wherein he was charged with Conspiracy in the Second Degree, in violation of N.Y. P. Law § 105.15, Indictment # [Redacted], Dkt. No. [Redacted] (the “Criminal Case”), giving rise to this civil action, and which OSNP complied with that request, and some of these materials have been produced by defendants to plaintiff in discovery;??

WHEREAS, plaintiff's counsel also received materials from the counsel who had defended plaintiff in the Criminal Case, including documents which had been disclosed by prosecutors to plaintiff in the Criminal Case;??

WHEREAS, on March 10, 2023, OSNP advised the parties to this action (the “Parties”) by letter and attachments (appended hereto as Exhibit A) that the following materials that had been disclosed to the Parties are sealed or otherwise protected from disclosure under certain New York statues and state court orders: (i) grand jury minutes and exhibits; (ii) eavesdropping warrants and applications and the related intercepted calls and data; and (iii) search warrants and applications; and (iv) pen register/trap and trace warrants and applications (collectively, the “Protected Materials”);??

WHEREAS, in Exhibit A, OSNP demanded that the Parties return, delete or destroy all Protected Materials in their possession;??

WHEREAS, OSNP and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) have indicated that witnesses in this case under their control cannot testify regarding matters relating to the Protected Materials, absent a Court Order to disclose;??

WHEREAS, after conferring with counsel for the Parties, OSNP agreed to hold its March 10, 2023 demand in abeyance pending the result of a timely application to a court to adjudicate OSNP's demand, provided the Protected Materials were not disseminated further or further reviewed by counsel, and the parties’ counsels agreed to those conditions;??

WHEREAS, plaintiff has voluntarily waived any sealing protections under N.Y. Crim. P. Law § 160.50;??

WHEREAS, OSNP and DEA have taken no position on defendants’ application to unseal and disclose the Relevant Protected Materials, provided that should this Court grant defendants’ application and order the disclosure of the Relevant Protected Materials, OSNP and DEA consent to the following conditions of said Order.

THEREFORE IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AND ADJUDGED THAT:

1. Defendants have demonstrated a compelling and particularized need for the Protected Materials to the extent that they relate to plaintiff and/or the charge against plaintiff in the Criminal Case;??

2. The Court finds that the interests of justice, due process, and the requirements of full and fair adjudication of federal rights, require that the Protected Materials be disclosed to the Parties, subject to the limitations set forth herein, notwithstanding the provisions of N.Y. Crim. P. Law §§ 190.25(4)(a), 700.65(3), 705.30(1), or other law or prior court orders relating to the Protected Materials.

*2 3. OSNP in the first instance shall review the Protected Materials for materials that relate to the conspiracy charges against plaintiff in the Criminal Case, hereinafter the “Relevant Protected Materials.” OSNP, in consultation with DEA, is hereby required to disclose the Relevant Protected Materials in discovery in this action, subject to the limitations and conditions set forth herein.

4. If OSNP determines that all the Protected Materials are Relevant Protected Materials, and that no redactions are required pursuant to paragraph 6 of this Order, then they shall promptly inform the Parties by email.

5. Within 30 days of the entry of this Order, OSNP shall provide the Parties with a bates-stamped set of (a) the Relevant Protected Materials with any redactions made pursuant to Paragraph 6, and (b) a log of Protected Materials that have been withheld for lack of relevance and/or privilege.

6. OSNP, after consultation with DEA, may redact from Relevant Protected Materials the names of any persons who are not parties to this action whom they believe require additional confidentiality protection not otherwise provided for in this Order, and provide the parties with a key assigning a letter to each unique redacted person and stating the general reasons for the redaction of each person, and each redaction shall contain the letter for the person redacted.

7. The bates-stamped sets produced by OSNP, after consultation with DEA, and in accordance with Paragraphs 3-6 of this Order, shall be the sole and exclusive versions of the Protected Materials and the Relevant Protected Materials used for discovery in this action and shall be referred to as the “Unsealed Materials.”

8. Following OSNP's production of the Unsealed Materials to the Parties pursuant to paragraphs 3-6 of this Order, the Parties shall, within ten (10) business days of such production, delete or destroy any Protected Materials that they previously received from any other source, including but not limited to materials received from plaintiff's criminal defense counsel and materials previously received from OSNP. The Parties may not otherwise use, review, access, or disseminate the Protected Materials other than the Unsealed Materials..

9. Should the Parties disagree with the designation of any document as Protected Materials or Relevant Protected Materials or Unsealed Materials, the objecting party must notify OSNP and DEA in writing within ten (10) days of receipt of the materials and make good faith attempts to confer with OSNP and DEA to resolve the dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved, and within ten (10) days after efforts to confer are completed, the objecting party may make an application to the Court challenging such designation. Until the Court resolves the dispute about the designation, the disputed document shall be treated as Protected Materials within the meaning of this Order.

10. The Parties may not use, review, access, obtain, receive, procure, or disseminate Protected Materials other than in conformance with this Order or as needed to effect compliance with this Order and only after the procedure set forth in paragraphs 3-6 of this Order has been completed..??

11. The Unsealed Materials may be used by the Parties to this case and their attorneys solely for the purposes of this litigation, and by OSNP and DEA in preparing for depositions and shall be deemed Confidential pursuant to the terms of the Confidentiality Stipulation and Order of June 27, 2022 (ECF No. 11) (the “Confidentiality Order”).

*3 12. Witnesses in this case may be questioned at deposition regarding the Unsealed Materials and/or the information contained therein on a Confidential basis subject to the Confidentiality Order.

13. To the extent that the parties determine that it is necessary to submit any of the Unsealed Materials to this Court, those materials shall be filed under seal.

14. The Court shall in its sole discretion determine how the Unsealed Materials may be used at trial and under what circumstances and conditions.

15. The Parties, OSNP and DEA shall retain the right to seek further relief relating to the Protected Materials, Relevant Protected Materials, and Unsealed Materials.

SO ORDERED.