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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
[TX] Secret Houston sentencing of Mexico drug lord illegal
    #14472530 - 05/18/11 10:39 AM (12 years, 8 months ago)

Court faults judge over media access
May 17, 2011 - chron.com

A federal appeals court ruled it was illegal for a judge to lock the public and the press out of a Houston courtroom while a man who was once one of the most wanted, feared and violent drug traffickers in the world was sentenced, without giving the Houston Chronicle a chance to challenge the secrecy.

Armed deputy marshals guarded the doors of a federal courtroom in downtown Houston in February 2010 as U.S. District Judge Hilda Tagle sentenced Osiel Cardenas Guillen, ex head of Mexico's Gulf Cartel, to 25 years in prison and ordered he forfeit $50 million.

"We conclude the press and the public have a First Amendment right of access to sentencing hearings," states an opinion from a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Having an open sentencing allows the public to observe whether the defendant is being justly sentenced, especially where the court, rather than a jury, is determining the sentence, notes the court ruling, which came Tuesday.

In other words, the judge should have ensured the court schedule listed the hearing in advance and that anyone opposed to the closure had a chance to argue against it.

Decision seen as 'victory'

At the time, Tagle claimed the extreme secrecy was needed to avoid the substantial probability of "imminent danger" to court personnel as well as deputy U.S. marshals and the general public.

It has never been made public if there was actually a threat against Cardenas.

The ruling reinforces that judges in the future should not automatically close courtrooms.

The court notes, in fact, that crime legends like mobsters Al Capone and John Gotti were openly sentenced, as was Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

"The decision by the 5th Circuit is a victory for those who find open courts sacred," said Jeff Cohen, editor of the Chronicle. "The trial judge should have known better. There is a dangerous drug war being waged on our border and it is essential that the public have a clear view of how it is being fought."

There was no immediate reply from the U.S. attorney's office regarding a Chronicle request for comment.

As a result of the courtroom being closed, no one was allowed to observe the sentencing hearing other than prosecutors and law-enforcement officers as well as Cardenas's lawyers and family.

While on the loose in Mexico, Cardenas was known for being extremely hands on and violent.

Turns 44 today

He created a personal security force known as the Zetas that is blamed for bringing a new level of brutality to the ongoing war in Mexico between drug traffickers and government security forces.

Cardenas, who marks his 44th birthday today, was transferred last week to the Supermax prison in Colorado where he is housed in isolation along with some of the nation's most notorious criminals.

Cardenas pleaded guilty to an array of drug-trafficking related charges as well as admitted to holding an AK-47 to the heads of two U.S. federal agents captured in his hometown on the Rio Grande, Matamoros, Mexico.

Since Cardenas was given credit for time he spent in prison in Mexico, prior to being sent to the U.S. for trial, he is due to be released no later than 2024.

A transcript released the day of Cardenas' sentencing shows Tagle had stern words for him.

"You were a role model for the narco-trafficantes brandishing assault rifles who are not only younger and younger as time goes by, but more brazen. The thirst for power is unquenchable," she told him. "Kidnappings, extortion, gun battles in the streets, a desperate economy, innocence lost, that is your legacy to your country, to our communities on both sides of the border, and to society."

The appeals court did not issue any opinion on whether Tagle would have had good reason to close the courtroom that morning, only that she did not follow proper procedures for letting the public or the Chronicle challenge the closure.


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Offlinedestructo_low
Oh yeah!
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Re: [TX] Secret Houston sentencing of Mexico drug lord illegal [Re: veggie]
    #14472832 - 05/18/11 11:38 AM (12 years, 8 months ago)

He only got his strength from prohibition. A modern day Al Capone.


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There is a molecule for every purpose. There are only actions and reactions. Cut out the middle men. Everything I say is a lie.


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Offlinewickedscepter
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Registered: 02/19/07
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Re: [TX] Secret Houston sentencing of Mexico drug lord illegal [Re: destructo_low]
    #14472965 - 05/18/11 12:04 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

The leader of the largest drug cartel in Mexico only gets 25 years? I personally think he should be free but what about people who got life in prison for conspiracy involving LSD or other chemicals? This man could have had a hand in the deaths of hundreds of people and the addiction and familial destruction of thousands of people. We've all known this is bullshit for a long time but this is a pretty obvious and serious skewing of values.


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Offline2jew4u
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Registered: 04/07/11
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Last seen: 12 years, 5 months
Re: [TX] Secret Houston sentencing of Mexico drug lord illegal [Re: wickedscepter]
    #14475313 - 05/18/11 08:31 PM (12 years, 8 months ago)

He only got 25 years?  Wtf people get that for an ounce of crack, What about all the people that he had killed,killed etc.


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