Miles Guo Court Documents · Doc 682

摘要

Notice of Appearance · Melinda M. Sarafa · Appointed Under the Criminal Justice Act

A one-page notice of appearance, entered on the docket April 8, 2025, by which Melinda Marie Sarafa became counsel of record for Miles Guo in United States v. Miles Guo, 23-CR-00118 (AT).

One detail worth recording

The notice states that counsel is an attorney duly admitted to practice in the court and has been appointed pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act to represent the defendant — that is, court-appointed and publicly funded counsel rather than privately retained counsel.

That status bears directly on a later sentencing-phase argument: the defense's March 2026 sentencing submission argued that no fine should be imposed because the defendant is unable to pay, resting on the twin facts that he has assigned counsel and is in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings (Dkt. 822).

Related filings

Joshua Lewis Dratel filed his notice of appearance the same day (Dkt. 681). A series of filings and hearings on assigned counsel and substitution of counsel preceded these appearances over March and April 2025 (Dkts. 483, 499, 500, 501, 502, 520, 525).