After the unsuccessful step of the federal prosecutor’s office Judge Brian Cogan left the door open for jurors to decide whether to drop drug conspiracy charges against Genaro Garcia Luna.former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico.
However, This does not mean that a former official during the reign of Felipe Calderon can go free or not face other legal consequences. Because the jury must first find Garcia Luna “guilty” of all conspiracy charges before deciding to drop the charges.
“First they must find him guilty, and then consider revocation [los cargos de conspiración] only if guilt is proven”, Judge Kogan limited himself to the rules of the meetings. “If you are found not guilty of the entire conspiracy, then the charges cannot be dropped. If you are a member [de la conspiración]you must know you are a member before considering leaving [de los cargos]”.
Garcia Luna is accused of leading the organization for an extended period, as well as three counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine in the United States.
Judge Kogan emphasized that the dismissal assessment only applies to the above-mentioned crimes, since three counts of drug trafficking are related to the leadership of a criminal group.
“Besides, keep in mind that retirement [de cargos] it’s because he stopped participating in the conspiracyis a potential defense only on counts one, two, three or four of the indictment,” the judge added.
Judge Cogan recalled that the fifth charge concerned Garcia Luna’s false testimony to USCIS for citizenship, because he would be lying if he had not committed a crime or been potentially prosecuted for a crime, in addition to failing to comply with the law length of stay in the United States in the process of naturalization.
Before the start of the debate, assistant prosecutor Sarita Komatireddy wanted the judge to accept more evidence that Garcia Luna never stopped participating in the criminal conspiracy.even after stepping down as Mexico’s Minister of Public Security in 2012.
Although Judge Kogan denied the prosecutor’s motion, reminding her that she had asked for an answer on the matter at least two weeks ago, she told the jury that prosecutors did not have to prove that the defendant was out of the conspiracy, but that in this case, Garcia Luna should have taken “affirmative action” to confirm that she was no longer involved in this conspiracy.
“Merely leaving office is not enough,” the judge said.
On Tuesday, the jury will continue debating whether to find Garcia Luna “guilty” or “not guilty” for his links to the Sinaloa cartel.
The 12 members of the panel will review the evidence they have requested, including the payment reports disclosed by Israel Avila, the only protected witness to testify about the drug dealers’ accounting records, where Garcia Luna, known as “El Metralleta”, is nicknamed. and “Tartamudo” were recorded as evidence of multi-million dollar payouts.
Source: La Opinion
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