By The opinion
08 Nov 2023, 10:03 AM EST
Ruben Oseguera Gonzalezbetter known as “The Menchito” because he is the son of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), will face US justice in a trial scheduled for October 2024.
Less than a year after this happened and throughout his judicial process, the young criminal has made several changes in his legal defense, and the most recent occurred a few days ago when he requested that the lawyers Jan Edward Ronis and Anthony Colombo Jr. be your representatives.
It should be remembered that Oseguera González will go to trial after his defense and the prosecution did not reach a plea agreement. At said hearing, both parties requested a jury trial, whose selection was scheduled for October 7, 2024.
In this way and with the consent of the accused, speedy trial time was excluded, as reported by the judicial system of the District Court of Washington, DC.
His lawyers have defended other drug traffickers
The two lawyers who from now on will be in charge of handling the “Menchito” case have experience in drug trafficking trials in United States courts.
Jean Edward Ronis was one of the lawyers of the former Nayarit prosecutor, Edgar Veytiawhen he reached a plea agreement with the United States Prosecutor’s Office in January 2019 for participating in an international conspiracy for the production and distribution of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana, according to the newspaper Milenio.
The former official even accepted having received bribes from a drug trafficking cartel to facilitate their criminal activities. Veytia also participated as a witness in the trial against Genaro García Luna and, recently, it was reported that his sentence will be reviewed, which could result in a reduction in the years he has left in prison.
For his part, Anthony Colombo Jr. was part of the defense of the former leader of the Tijuana Cartel, Benjamin Arellano Felix. On January 4, 2012, the drug trafficker reached a plea agreement on two counts of organized crime related to cocaine and marijuana trafficking, money laundering, extortion and murder.
A very slow legal process
Rubén Oseguera González, who came to be considered the second in command of the CJNG, was arrested in June 2015 in the state of Jalisco, and extradited to the United States in February 2020.
Born in San Francisco, California, Mencho’s son began his criminal career at the age of 17. He is accused of distributing cocaine and methamphetamine in the United States and carrying a firearm. Since he was extradited, his trial has proceeded very slowly.
At the beginning of this year, the selection of a jury for his trial was expected. However, in March, Oseguera González requested a hearing to reach a plea agreement.
On April 11, one day before the plea agreement hearing before Judge Beryl A. Howell, the U.S. Attorney’s Office was informed that Menchito’s relatives wanted to present a new lawyerArturo Hernández, to be part of the Mexican’s defense.
Thus, on the day of the hearing where the young criminal was expected to plead guilty, the Mexican recanted and decided to go to trial.
Keep reading:
– The relatives of “El Mencho” who have been captured while he remains a fugitive.
– The daughter of “El Mencho” is released in the US after 25 months in prison.