24611: Hermantin (News) Deals being cut as Haitian drug case nears trial

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, Apr. 09, 2005
COURTS
Deals being cut as Haitian drug case nears trial
Former Haitian security officials are beginning to cut deals with 
prosecutors as a historic drug-smuggling trial nears.
BY JACK DOLAN AND JAY WEAVER
jdolan@herald.com

Days before former leaders of Haiti's National Police are to face trial in 
Miami on drug-smuggling charges, two ex-security officers for deposed 
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide have signaled their willingness to 
cooperate with U.S. prosecutors.

Jean Nesly Lucien, the former director of Haiti's National Police force and 
a defendant in the trial set to begin on April 18, faces a hearing next 
Tuesday to change his original plea of not guilty.

If, as expected, he pleads guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence than 
he'd face if convicted at trial, prosecutors are likely to ask him to 
provide information against his co-defendants: former National Police 
Commander Rudy Therassan, former chief of Port-au-Prince airport police 
Romaine Lestin and former Haitian anti-drug czar Evintz Brillant.

Allegations of a drug-smuggling conspiracy in Haiti's police force surfaced 
in 2003 when Brillant was arrested by fellow officers for allowing a 
Colombian airplane carrying more than 1,000 kilos of cocaine to land on a 
highway near Port-au-Prince.

The four men are accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from 
Colombian drug smugglers who used Haiti as a stepping-stone to the United 
States during Aristide's presidency. All pleaded not guilty at their 
arraignments; only Lucien has scheduled a hearing to change his plea.

Another deal appears to be in the works in a case involving a fifth 
defendant, Oriel Jean, Aristide's chief of palace security, who has been 
held in Miami's federal detention center for more than a year.

PLEA ENTERED

On Friday, Jean pleaded not guilty to a single count of money laundering 
that was filed last week in an ''information'' instead of an indictment, 
said his attorney, David Raben. Charging via information is often a sign 
that a plea deal is in the works and that the defendant is cooperating.

Raben declined to comment on whether his client is negotiating a deal with 
prosecutors.

Haitian officials have claimed that millions of dollars in unexplained 
checks were made out to Jean from a presidential account during Aristide's 
administration. Jean has denied receiving such checks.

ARISTIDE DEFENDED

Aristide's Miami attorney, Ira Kurzban, has said that any money withdrawn 
from presidential accounts was spent for legitimate public purposes.

Jean is expected to testify against the other Haitian officials if their 
trial before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke goes forward as scheduled this 
month.

But there is a growing likelihood that prosecutors may strike plea deals 
with some other defendants, as part of an apparent attempt to build a case 
against Aristide, in exile in South Africa.

So far, no evidence linking Aristide to the alleged drug running and money 
laundering has been revealed in court, and his lawyer has maintained his 
innocence.

Attorneys for Aristide and Lucien could not be reached Friday evening.