Judge says Mexican ex-official tried to bribe inmates in a bid for new US drug trial
NEW YORK — A former senior Mexican official tried to bribe fellow inmates to make false statements in support of his bid for a new trial in a American drug casea judge ruled on Wednesday in rejecting Genaro Garcia Luna ‘s request.
García Luna, who once held a cabinet position as Mexico’s top public security official, was convicted last year from taking payments to protecting the drug cartels he was supposed to tackleHe is awaiting sentencing and denies the charges.
Prosecutors discovered his alleged bribery attempts in prison and made them public in a court filing earlier this year, citing evidence including handwritten notes from a former cellmate and a secret recording of a conversation with García Luna. His lawyers said the allegations were false and the recording was ambiguous.
But U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan found them credible.
“This was a clear plan by the defendant to obstruct justice through bribery,” Cogan wrote.
He also rejected other defense arguments for a new trial, including the claim that a prosecution witness had given false testimony at the trial and that the defense had not been provided with certain potentially useful information that prosecutors were required to provide.
“We are extremely disappointed with the court’s decision,” said defense lawyer César de Castro, adding that “the court failed to address fundamental problems with this prosecution.”
García Luna plans to appeal, his lawyer said.
The Public Prosecution Service did not want to comment on Wednesday’s decision.
After the verdict, defense attorneys filed an affidavit from an inmate who said he met a prosecution witness in a federal prison in Brooklyn before García Luna’s trial.
The inmate said the witness swore he would “screw” García Luna by testifying against him, and that the witness spoke to a second government witness on a banned cellphone.
Defense attorneys said the alleged comments bolstered their claim that García Luna was framed by cartel members and corrupt officials seeking leniency for themselves. The alleged phone calls also could have undermined prosecutors’ argument that the witnesses were credible because they hadn’t spoken in years, and so their stories couldn’t have matched.
But prosecutors said in a March court filing that the inmate who gave the affidavit had a psychotic disorder with hallucinations. In government interviews, the witnesses denied the alleged communications, prosecutors said.
And, they said, García Luna, who is in the same Brooklyn jail, offered other inmates as much as $2 million to make similar claims about communications between the witnesses. He also asked one of the inmates to convince another to say he had overheard a phone call with the government’s second witness about making up a false claim that he had bribed García Luna, prosecutors said.
The intermediary, identified by defense attorneys as a former cellmate of García Luna, took the notes and made the recording.
The judge concluded that García Luna’s lawyers were not aware of his activities.
García Luna, 56, was convicted on charges including participation in a continuing criminal enterprise. He faces at least 20 years and up to life in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 9.
García Luna was Mexico’s Secretary of Public Security from 2006 to 2012.