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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2007 
Brenda Martin's Lawyer Confident
 Stephen Petrick - The Intelligencer
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 |  | If the judge decides Martin should never have been arrested she'll be free and won't likely be pursued by authorities again.
- Guillermo Cruz |  | |
Brenda Martin could be out of a Mexican jail in a matter of months, her lawyer said Tuesday.
Guillermo Cruz, a Toronto-based lawyer representing the former Trenton woman, said he's confident "there's not a stroke of evidence against Brenda" after travelling to Mexico to review her file this week.
For the past two years, Martin has been in a Mexican prison for her alleged role in an investment scheme.
Cruz represented Martin at a preliminary hearing in Guadalajara Tuesday, outlining how several of her civil rights were violated.
For instance, when Martin was originally questioned, it was at her place of work and her co-workers were used as translators, he said. He's also arguing that at several stages of the investigation, Martin didn't have a translator.
"If everything is followed according to Mexican legislation, at some point Brenda has to be released," he said from Mexico Tuesday night. Tuesday's preliminary meeting was a quick opportunity for Cruz and his teams of lawyers to outline to a judge what arguments they'll be making at a hearing set for Jan. 7.
It also provided a chance for Debra Tieleman, a long-time friend of Martin's, to make a compassionate plea for her release.
"I told [the judge] that Brenda and I had been friends since we were kids," Tieleman said in a telephone interview. "She's been here for two years, she's 50 years old, she weighs 94 pounds, she's been through a lot, and unfortunately, she's never had proper legal representation."
Cruz said the Jan. 7 hearing - which is on Martin's birthday - will last one day, but a decision will likely take a couple months, considering there are more than 36,000 pages of notes on the case.
In Mexico, this type of hearing is called a Writ of Amparo and is entirely separate from the criminal case Martin is awaiting trial for, Cruz said. It could relieve her of having to face charges.
If the judge decides Martin should never have been arrested she'll be free and won't likely be pursued by authorities again, he added. Tieleman, who spent most of Tuesday visiting Martin in jail, said her friend is in much better spirits having heard this news. |
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