Defendant Carmelo Garcia to hammer out plea deal?

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Here's the scoop on Hoboken's latest (alleged) true-crime drama: United States of America v Carmelo G Garcia...

Defendant Carmelo G. Garcia and the Assistant U.S. Attorneys have jointly requested a "continuance" to stop the clock on court proceedings. According to the Court's Order of Continuance, the reasons were "to permit defense council the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation in this matter and to allow parties to conduct plea negotiations and attempt to enter a plea agreement."

On November 25, Judge Joseph A Dickson granted the relatively short continuance- until January 31, 2021. Notably, the same continuance was granted to Garcia's two Co-Defendants.

What does it all mean? As a layperson adrift in a sea of legal mumbo-jumbo, I asked a lawyer-friend to opine on the delay.

She thought that they may have needed time because of the holidays, and added, "if I were one of Carmelo's "associates" in anything else he may have been involved in that hasn't passed the statute of limitations, I would be as nervous as a cat swishing its tail in a room full of rocking chairs."

Then I told her that Carmelo's two Co-Defendants had likewise received a continuance.

She remarked, "Sounds like a canary convention."

There you go. To be continued...