Genaro García Luna, former drug czar of Mexico and now accused of drug trafficking, will have more time before facing a trial, such that he could reach the agreement he has been negotiating with the prosecution since early January.
Brian Cogan, the judge of the case against the Mexican politician and who presided over the process against Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, determined this Tuesday at a hearing to postpone the process until April 2 so that all the evidence of the prosecution can be reviewed.
A few days ago, prosecutors had advanced that the amount of evidence warranted classifying the case against García Luna as "complex." Judge Cogan agreed on Tuesday, so if the trial is advanced, it will be extensive and prolonged.
"The government expects to present voluminous investigative documents in the case, linked to the accused's imputed conduct, which extended for almost two decades," the prosecutors said in a document filed on January 17. The tests include financial records, real estate, evidence obtained from other countries and “evidence collected from confiscated electronic devices”.
Meanwhile, García Luna's lawyer argued at the hearing on Tuesday that as the former official has not been able to access his financial resources, he has not been able to arm his defense. The lawyer also criticized that the Mexican politician is supposedly held in "special" conditions for which he has not been able to have contact with his family.
In the next appearance, in April, it will be determined whether to extend the negotiations for a possible agreement or whether to proceed to trial.
In a possible trial, uncomfortable testimonies could come to light for other former Mexican politicians.
García Luna is accused of accepting bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, and witnesses who accused that during the El Chapo trial said there were allegedly bribes for other members of previous Mexican cabinets and even for former presidents like Felipe Calderón. Both García Luna and Calderón said the allegations were false at that time and, in December, Calderón said in a tweet that he never knew of the conduct for which his former Secretary of Security was charged.
García Luna entered into negotiations via his defense to explore a possible agreement with attorneys since January 6.
With an agreement he could plead guilty and receive a reduced sentence (otherwise the current charges carry 10 years in prison to life imprisonment) in exchange for giving information on the alleged wanderings of officials with drug traffickers.
García Luna was arrested in early December in Dallas (Texas) on charges of conspiring to traffic narcotics and make false statements.
In the accusation he is also accused of overlapping members of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was directed by El Chapo, at the same time that García Luna was in charge of the security policy and the fight against organized crime in Mexico.
On January 3, at his first hearing in the Federal Court of the Eastern District, in New York, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
For the moment, the former Mexican official will continue to be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (New York) with no possibility of being released on bail, as it is considered a risk of escape.
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