david brooks
Correspondent
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday December 14, 2022, p. 10
New York. The last preparation hearing in the judicial process of Genaro García Luna was scheduled for December 15, when it is expected to refine the final details towards the trial scheduled to begin on January 9.
The federal judge in charge of the case, Brian Cogan, ordered yesterday that this session be held on Thursday in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of New York, based in Brooklyn, where the prosecutors and the defendant and their lawyers will agree on the final logistics.
The former Secretary of Public Safety and former director of the Federal Investigation Agency faces five charges. Four of them revolve around a conspiracy during his tenure as a top Mexican government official between 2001 and 2012, when he allegedly provided assistance to the Sinaloa cartel in exchange for multimillion-dollar bribes.
The fifth charge is for making false statements before US federal authorities.
If there are no surprises, the trial will begin with the jury selection process –made up of 12 citizens, plus alternates–, from January 9 to 17. With this, the case will be presented and argued. Prosecutors estimate that the trial will last approximately two months, sitting four days a week.
García Luna was arrested in Dallas and transferred to New York in December 2019, where he has remained to date pending trial or another resolution of his case.
