By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Alvin K. Hellerstein, a Manhattan federal judge who presided over cases involving President Donald Trump<\/a>, former Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> and the 9\/11 attacks during nearly three decades on the bench, has died. He was 92.<\/p>\n Hellerstein died Wednesday morning while surrounded by his family, Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain said in a statement. His funeral is scheduled for Thursday at Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan.<\/p>\n Swain remembered Hellerstein as a \u201cdistinguished jurist\u201d and praised his \u201cenergetic and dedicated service\u201d to the court, which continued until his death.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is greatly appreciated and will be sorely missed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Just two weeks ago, Hellerstein presided over the arraignment of Maduro and Maduro\u2019s wife, Cilia Flores, on torture charges that were added to their ongoing narco-terrorism conspiracy case.<\/p>\n Maduro, who was captured alongside his wife in January in a surprise U.S. military raid in Caracas, twice defied Hellerstein\u2019s request that he enter a plea to the charges. Irked, Hellerstein took matters into his own hands, interjecting that \u201ca plea of not guilty will be entered on behalf of Mr. Maduro.\u201d<\/p>\n At Flores\u2019 Oct. 8 bail hearing, Hellerstein coughed and struggled to speak at times, telling lawyers: \u201cI have a voice problem. As long as you can understand \u2014 hear me, I\u2019ll keep going.\u201d Nevertheless, he was resolute that he\u2019d preside over Maduro and Flores\u2019 trial, which he\u2019d scheduled for next June. Judge Analisa Torres will take over the case.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were saddened to learn of Judge Hellerstein\u2019s passing and offer our condolences to his family,\u201d Maduro\u2019s lawyer, Barry Pollack, said.<\/p>\n Hellerstein, a New York native and Columbia Law School graduate, served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General\u2019s Corps and was a Manhattan litigator before President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, appointed him to the federal bench in 1998. He kept a robust docket even after moving to senior status in 2011.<\/p>\n Rulings left Trump\u2019s conviction in place<\/p>\n In August, in one of his last significant rulings, Hellerstein again spurned Trump\u2019s effort to erase his hush money conviction<\/a>, rejecting the president\u2019s bid to move the state court case to federal court and have it dismissed on presidential immunity grounds.<\/p>\n \u201cPaying hush money to an adult film star or engaging in a cover-up of an embarrassment are not subsumed in presidential immunity,\u201d Hellerstein wrote, referring to the $130,000 payoff to adult film actor Stormy Daniels at the heart of Trump\u2019s case.<\/p>\n It was the third time Hellerstein had denied Trump\u2019s requests to move the case. The first time<\/a> was after Trump\u2019s March 2023 indictment; the second followed Trump\u2019s May 2024 conviction and a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling<\/a> that presidents and former presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts.<\/p>\n Hellerstein was forced to revisit the matter after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that he erred in his prior ruling by failing to consider \u201cimportant issues relevant\u201d to the president\u2019s request<\/a>. However, the appeals court panel noted that it expressed \u201cno view\u201d on how Hellerstein should rule.<\/p>\n In 2020, Hellerstein sprang Trump\u2019s estranged former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen from prison after the Justice Department revoked his home confinement to thwart his efforts to publish a book or talk to the media. The government\u2019s action, he ruled, was retaliatory and a First Amendment violation.<\/p>\n \u2018This is different. This is 9\/11.\u2019<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Hellerstein presided over dozens of wrongful death, injury and property damage lawsuits \u2014 a two-decade-long effort that shaped his legacy on the bench.<\/p>\n Some of the judge\u2019s former clients died in the attack and, lawyers say, he showed great empathy to victims and their families, meeting with them for hours in his chambers and rejecting what he felt were low-ball settlement offers.<\/p>\n