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 News from Around the Americas | March 2008 
Lawyer for Brenda Martin Worried About Her Safety
 CBC News
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 |  | She is beside herself. She's indicating that she's on so much medication that she can't sleep, she can't think. She can't possibly bear more months there.
— Friend Debra Tieleman |  | | | |
A lawyer representing an Ontario woman jailed in Mexico said he's confident he can secure her freedom, but hopes she can survive the months she still faces in prison.
Brenda Martin, 51, of Trenton is sedated and under 24-hour suicide watch in a Mexican prison's hospital after threatening to kill herself.
She has been behind bars for more than two years in a jail near Guadalajara, Mexico, since her arrest in February 2006 on charges of money laundering and conspiracy relating to a criminal fraud investigation into her employer years earlier.
Martin maintains her innocence, and a sworn affidavit from her former employer says she had no knowledge of the multimillion-dollar internet fraud scheme he pleaded guilty to and is now serving time for in a U.S. jail.
Her Toronto lawyer, Guillermo Cruz, said there is no strong evidence against Martin.
"I'm pretty confident we're going to have success in this case," he said.
The lawyer said he was shocked to learn Monday afternoon that his attempt to have charges against Martin dropped based on a constitutional challenge had been dismissed by a Mexican Federal Court.
Martin and her lawyer have yet to decide whether they will appeal the decision or continue with court proceedings.
Either option will result in months behind bars for Martin, and her lawyer and friends are concerned she might not make it.
"I'm just praying that she could do it," her lawyer said. "When I had the last opportunity to spoke to her, I found that she was in pretty bad shape."
"She is beside herself. She's indicating that she's on so much medication that she can't sleep, she can't think. She can't possibly bear more months there," said Debra Tieleman, a longtime friend who has spearheaded the campaign to help Martin.
If convicted, Martin could face 15 more years in a Mexican prison, her lawyer said.
Liberal MP Dan McTeague has vowed to continue to pressure Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government to send a diplomatic note of protest.
Helena Guergis, secretary of state for foreign affairs, said the government is doing all it can by pleading the case diplomatically with key officials, but cannot intervene in another country's court process.
Martin worked as a chef in Puerto Vallarta for Alyn Richard Waage for 10 months in 2001.
Waage pleaded guilty in 2005 to operating an internet fraud scheme while pretending to be an investor, and is serving a 10-year sentence in the U.S. |
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