The legal prosecution of Nicolás Maduro is underway. This is what to anticipate

Now that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is on U.S. soil, the legal case in opposition to him is in movement.

Maduro pleaded not responsible to the 4 prices in opposition to him — narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy, and possession of and conspiracy to own machine weapons — throughout his preliminary court docket look in Manhattan, N.Y., on Monday.

His spouse, Cilia Flores, who was additionally charged within the superseding indictment and captured alongside her husband by U.S. forces throughout an early morning raid in Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday, additionally pleaded not responsible.

U.S. Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi stated in a submit on social media over the weekend that Maduro and Flores “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”

Now begins what could possibly be a prolonged authorized strategy of pretrial motions, potential plea negotiations and presumably a jury trial of the authoritarian chief who dominated Venezuela for greater than a decade.

Shane Stansbury, who prosecuted the previous president of Guatemala as an assistant U.S. lawyer within the Southern District of New York, stated the case ought to largely observe the everyday path of any legal case, with some notable exceptions. “It’s just that things may take longer, given the nature of the case, the type of evidence involved, the security considerations and so forth,” stated Stansbury, who’s now a professor on the Duke College Faculty of Regulation.

Authorized consultants say these problems imply Maduro seemingly will not go to trial this yr, even because the case in opposition to him strikes ahead. This is what to look at for.

Maduro’s head-of-state standing will seemingly come up in court docket

One argument that Maduro’s protection group might make is that he can’t be criminally charged for his actions as Venezuela’s head of state, two former federal prosecutors who spoke to NPR say.

Court docket data listing Washington, D.C.-based lawyer Barry Joel Pollack as Maduro’s protection lawyer. He didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s request for a touch upon the costs. Flores is being defended by Houston-based lawyer Mark Donnelly, who instructed NPR that they “look forward to reviewing and challenging the evidence the government has” and that there’s a “long road ahead.”

The U.S. stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela’s reputable president in 2019 after he was reelected in a contest thought-about fraudulent by the U.S. and worldwide observers. He had taken energy in 2013 after the dying of Venezuela’s earlier chief, Hugo Chávez. (The indictment alleges that Maduro started drug trafficking into the U.S. as early as 1999 and contains intervals when he held different roles in Venezuela’s authorities.)

Nonetheless, there may be precedent for the U.S. authorities bringing the chief of one other nation to trial, together with the early Nineties prosecution of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.

In that case, a federal appeals court docket rejected Noriega’s head-of-state immunity declare. However Adam Fels, a former assistant U.S. lawyer who’s now in personal observe in Miami, stated the difficulty might come up once more.

“I imagine those challenges, while they have already been litigated before, will be litigated again,” Fels stated.

Different nationwide leaders prosecuted by the Justice Division embrace former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo for cash laundering and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted on drug trafficking prices and pardoned by President Trump final month.

Throughout his court docket look on Monday, Maduro launched himself because the president of Venezuela and a prisoner of conflict.

The Venezuelan chief’s arrest might pose one other authorized query

As a result of Maduro was not extradited to the U.S. by means of a authorized course of, however quite seized by the U.S. navy throughout a shock incursion into Caracas, authorized consultants say this might give the protection group one other avenue for a authorized problem.

Fels pointed to the current case of Mexican cartel chief Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the way he ended up within the custody of the U.S. authorities.

Federal prosecutors say Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of former Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, compelled Zambada onto a airplane, drugged him and flew him throughout the border into the U.S., the place he was handed over to regulation enforcement.

“There was a challenge because there was a concern about whether or not Mr. Zambada went to the United States on his own free will and accord,” Fels stated. “So I imagine that litigation will also at least be something that Judge [Alvin K.] Hellerstein, who is the judge in this case, will be considering.” (Zambada pleaded responsible to drug trafficking prices final yr.)

However that could be a excessive bar for Maduro’s attorneys to beat. In accordance with Stansbury, federal courts have “generally declined to interfere with the means of arrest.”

Some proof could also be categorized, which might trigger delays

The advanced case in opposition to Maduro may imply that discovery, the authorized course of through which prosecutors and the protection group share proof, might take longer than standard. Stansbury stated some proof might come from intelligence sources or be categorized.

“The government may not want to use any classified information at trial, but that doesn’t mean that the government doesn’t have an obligation to turn over some classified material potentially if it’s exculpatory or otherwise is discoverable under the federal rules,” he stated.

The Categorized Info Procedures Act (CIPA) units guidelines for a way defendants can use categorized proof in court docket and may lengthen the pretrial course of. CIPA guidelines additionally utilized in Trump’s categorized paperwork case.

A plea deal is feasible — however so is a trial

Although Maduro has pleaded not responsible, there may be nonetheless time for federal prosecutors and the protection to succeed in a plea settlement.

Each authorized consultants who spoke to NPR famous that the 2 machine gun prices, which carry prolonged jail sentences, might push Maduro into a minimum of contemplating a plea.

In any other case, the case goes to trial. Fels, who was one of many lead federal prosecutors within the Justice Division’s profitable prosecution of El Chapo in 2019, stated federal prosecutors would nonetheless have loads of work to do to organize their case for court docket, together with probably interviewing corroborating witnesses.

“There was a substantial amount of evidence in the Chapo case. I would like to think that there’s substantial evidence in this case as well, given the efforts that were undertaken by the United States government to obtain and bring [Maduro] to justice,” Fels stated.

“The question is going to be: How do you put these allegations together and prove them with witnesses and documents in a way that will make sense to a jury?”