NewsWhore
05-17-2011, 04:50 PM
The Second Court of Instruction of the National District has sentenced Leavy Nin Batista, the wife of accused drug trafficker Jose David Figueroa Agosto, to five years in prison on charges of criminal association, money laundering and the use of false documents. The sentence will be conditionally suspended to two and a half years, according to a plea bargain between Nin Batista and the Justice Department. Nin Batista was sent to remain in prison at Najayo. For the suspended sentence to be applied, she must fulfill the following conditions: She must learn a trade; she must submit to supervision by the judge for the Execution of Sentences in the jurisdiction, which in this case is San Cristobal. Moreover, she must perform community service in a state institution or non-profit institution. The judge also ordered the seizure of her assets acquired through money laundering.
All the newspapers in the country were holding their editions for this verdict to be handed down. Diario Libre reports that the reading of the sentence began at 11:50pm with the arrival of Judge Claribel Nivar, ending at 12:05am. At first, the verdict was supposed to be released at 4pm, but it was postponed until 8pm, by which time the defendant had been transferred to the holding cell at the Palace of Justice until the time in which the decision was to be read. In her first appearance after being transferred to the country from Spain, Nin Batista pleaded guilty to the charges against her. She said she was a member of her husband's network that laundered assets from drug trafficking and which dealt in falsified documents. The unique, sui generis, nature of the shortened penal process is the only case in which the Judge of Instruction is allowed to issue convictions during a penal process, having as the sine qua non requisite that the defendant admit the facts and plead guilty.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
All the newspapers in the country were holding their editions for this verdict to be handed down. Diario Libre reports that the reading of the sentence began at 11:50pm with the arrival of Judge Claribel Nivar, ending at 12:05am. At first, the verdict was supposed to be released at 4pm, but it was postponed until 8pm, by which time the defendant had been transferred to the holding cell at the Palace of Justice until the time in which the decision was to be read. In her first appearance after being transferred to the country from Spain, Nin Batista pleaded guilty to the charges against her. She said she was a member of her husband's network that laundered assets from drug trafficking and which dealt in falsified documents. The unique, sui generis, nature of the shortened penal process is the only case in which the Judge of Instruction is allowed to issue convictions during a penal process, having as the sine qua non requisite that the defendant admit the facts and plead guilty.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)