Compounding the run-up to the Miami trial: Armed gangs have been terrorizing Haiti, a country in free fall without a political leader, making it unsafe for the defense lawyers in Miami to go there and question ex-Colombian soldiers jailed in Port-au-Prince on Haitian charges of assisting in the slaying of the president.
As a result, Judge Becerra granted the defense team’s request to take video depositions of five of the Colombians, who represent about one-third of the former commandos in jail.
“Although the difficulties of traveling to Haiti to conduct these depositions should not be understated, there appears to be no reason why the depositions could not take place over video conference,” Becerra ruled after the May 19 hearing on the trial date and other issues.