"Suspected cocaine kingpin opts for trial" by Associated Press / June 15, 2011
MIAMI — The suspected leader of a Colombian cocaine cartel had planned to plead guilty yesterday to a drug conspiracy charge but decided at the last minute to go to trial instead, because the deal that prosecutors offered meant he would probably die in prison.
An exasperated US District Judge Patricia Seitz warned Jaime Alberto Marin Zamora that the latest continuance in his case — the third — would be his last. She scheduled a trial for Sept. 26.
“That’s the drop-dead date,’’ Seitz told Marin Zamora, who was clad in tan prison garb and was using earphones so he could hear an interpreter translate the judge’s words to Spanish.
Defense lawyer David Fernandez said after the hearing that prosecutors offered a plea deal that would effectively mean a life sentence, which is the maximum Marin Zamora faces if convicted of cocaine trafficking conspiracy at trial.
“We’re not going to take a plea that would let him rot in jail for the rest of his life,’’ Fernandez said. “We were looking for a number we could live with and my guy wouldn’t die in jail.’’
Fernandez declined to discuss specific details of the negotiations.
As he left in a court elevator, Assistant US Attorney Adam Fels declined to comment, throwing up his hands in bewilderment at the latest developments in the case.
The judge wasn’t happy, either....
--more--"
