Mistrial in Washington's FARC terror case
On Nov. 21, US District Judge Thomas Hogan in Washington declared a mistrial in the terrorism and hostage-taking trial of Juvenal Ricardo Ovidio Palmera Pineda, a high-level leader and former negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), better known by his nom de guerre, Simon Trinidad. Palmera was arrested in Ecuador on Jan. 2, 2004, and extradited from Colombia to the US on Dec. 31, 2004.
Palmera was charged with hostage-taking, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists in relation to the abduction of three US defense contractors whose plane was downed in the southern Colombian department of Caqueta on Feb. 13, 2003. The FARC claims to have shot down the plane, and says it is holding the three US contractors: Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell. Palmera testified in the trial that he had never seen the three men. After five weeks of testimony, jurors deliberated for only a day before saying they were deadlocked. Prosecutors say they will try the case again. Palmera will remain jailed in the meantime. He also faces federal drug charges. (Miami Herald, Nov. 22 from AP)
From Weekly News Update on the Americas, Nov. 26
See also our November feature on the Simon Trinidad case.
See our last post on Colombia.
Jury deliberations
The jury deliberated for three days, which is still a very short time. There were 4 lawyers on the jury which explains how they knew how to achieve a hung jury so fast. They had to write three notes to the judge. I guess you could call it the "three note rule." Afterwards the judge called 4 jurors into his chambers, apparently to investigate whether there was any wrongdoing by jurors, then instructed all jurors and lawyers not to talk to the news media.
- Paul Wolf