Judge Brian Cogan has postponed until October 9 the hearing in which he will determine the sentence that Genaro García Luna will receive. The change of date comes after the defense of the former Mexican Secretary of Public Security asked for more time to collect evidence to exonerate him of some crimes and prepare for the trial. A New York court already found García Luna guilty of drug trafficking, organized crime and document falsification in February 2023 and the ruling was expected to be handed down on June 27. It is the third time the hearing has been postponed.
Lawyer Cesar de Castro has bought time to challenge the trial of García Luna, who is imprisoned in the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center. The defense has requested a new hearing in which it wants to present evidence that exonerates or reduces García Luna’s sentence for some of the crimes he committed. The lawyer has argued that he wants to see the presentation in time to be able to respond and that he does not have time to prepare for the hearing.
García Luna faces numerous crimes from his time as Secretary of Public Security during Felipe Calderón’s six-year term (2006-2012) for which he could face between 20 years and life in prison. From his arrest in Dallas in 2019 until his trial in 2023, American justice was able to prove the alliance between the police chief and the cartels to be able to cross the border with drugs and how he received bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. Due to these ties to the crime, he was charged with four charges: conspiracy for the international distribution of cocaine; conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine; conspiracy to import cocaine; organized crime. The drug traffickers themselves testified against him.
To this record was added an accusation of lying when filling out papers for his naturalization as an American, in which he claimed not to have committed any crime. In March of this year he was also accused of trying to bribe other inmates to testify in his favor.
It is the fourth time that Cogan has postponed García Luna’s sentence. The judge postponed the first ruling scheduled for June 2023 at the request of the defense, which was then moved to September of the same year. This March it was delayed again until June and, now, to October. On all occasions the hearing was extended at the request of the defense.
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