June 2027 trial date proposed as ousted Venezuelan president due back in Manhattan court
News
Federal prosecutors accuse Maduro and his wife of conspiring with drug cartels.
Federal prosecutors and defense lawyers for ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are seeking a June 2027 trial date in their narco-terrorism and drug trafficking case, according to a court filing Tuesday.
Ahead of a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday, prosecutors and defense lawyers laid out a proposed schedule for pre-trial motions, the turnover of classified evidence and the trial date.
Details
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein could lock in a schedule as early as Wednesday during the previously scheduled court conference.
In addition to the June 2027 trial date, both sides proposed that Maduro’s lawyers file their motion to dismiss the case based on sovereign immunity by September, with oral argument scheduled for November. Maduro’s other pretrial motions would be due in January.
According to the filing, prosecutors have already turned over the bulk of the non-classified evidence in the case, and would turn over most of the classified materials by November.
Analysis
Both sides reserved the right to request to delay the trial, and prosecutors noted that the schedule might shift if they have issues with some of the classified evidence.
Maduro and Flores last appeared in court in March, where his lawyers unsuccessfully pushed to have the case thrown out because the Treasury Department had blocked the Venezuelan government from paying Maduro’s defense lawyers.
Defense lawyers have since withdrawn their motion to dismiss the case after the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in April began allowing Maduro and Flores to receive money from Venezuela to pay for their attorneys.
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