NEW YORK -- It's tough enough facing narcotics charges in federal court. Try being introduced to jurors with the nickname "Taliban" on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
D'Angelo Nunez is due to go on trial Monday in federal court, just a 10-minute walk from the World Trade Center site, on charges listed in an indictment that gives his alias as "Taliban."
"I may be the only attorney in the United States in this particular position," attorney George Goltzer complained to U.S. District Judge Denise Cote last week. "I couldn't think of a worse nickname and I couldn't think of a worse place to try this case with that particular nickname."
The judge agreed to make adjustments in courtroom references to the defendant, whose trial has nothing to do with terrorism.
In court records, wherever Nunez's name has gone his nickname has closely followed: "D'Angelo Nunez, a/k/a 'Taliban.'"
Details here from the AP via the Washington Post.