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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2008 
'I Do Have Hope,' Martin Says After Emotional Hearing
 PVNN
| | Canadian Brenda Martin will learn fate within a week. | | |
The lawyer for a Canadian jailed in Mexico is cautiously optimistic the judge in the case will rule within the next week and will free Brenda Martin from the Guadalajara prison where she has spent the last two years.
"I think the judge has a much better perspective now of the case," Toronto lawyer Guillermo Cruz Rico said in a telephone interview from Guadalajara. "I think he now understands there was no evidence against Brenda."
Martin has been imprisoned since February 2006, charged with knowingly accepting illicit funds from a $60-million Internet fraud scheme operated by former Edmontonian Alyn Waage.
Conviction on the charge carries a sentence of five to 15 years.
Martin worked as Waage's chef at his posh Puerto Vallarta mansion for 10 months until she was fired in early 2001. Waage is serving a 10-year sentence in a U.S. prison and has sworn an affidavit in support of Martin, who has always maintained her innocence.
Cruz and Martin say at least a dozen reporters and their radio and television crews from Canada and another dozen reporters from the Mexican and international media crowded into the judge's chambers.
Martin said the judge was sweating profusely. "You could see that he was nervous," she said in a telephone interview.
"He used at least 16 napkins to dry his brow. I was in a down coat and I was freezing."
The hearing nearly stalled when Martin broke down emotionally and had to be escorted out of the room after judge said he may not render a decision on her case by Friday as promised. Under pressure from the Canadian government, the same judge had promised last week he would try to issue a ruling by Friday. When he reiterated Monday that by law he has 30 working days to issue a ruling, Martin broke into sobs.
She was taken from the judge's chambers to receive an injection of sedatives to steady her nerves, Martin said. She returned after about 10 minutes and regained her composure.
The dramatic scene played out not in a courtroom but in a large open office filled with cubicles, Martin said. The judge was surrounded by reporters, lawyers and court administrators.
Unlike a Canadian courtroom, the judge does not look at the accused or the lawyers or prosecutors.
Instead, he stared straight ahead, making no eye contact.
Martin entered the court with a team of lawyers, including three from Guadalajara who have done free legal research to assist Cruz.
Martin and her lawyers held hands before the hearing began. Martin, who has suffered from physical and mental exhaustion, sat quietly in a borrowed, white down jacket waiting for her turn to speak. When it came, she gave a lengthy statement in a soft, low voice and did not cry or plead with the judge, as she had at previous hearings.
"I said, 'I have suffered for 2.2 years and I said, 'You have ruined my life. I am an innocent person and I want to go home to my family,' " Martin said.
Guadalajara lawyer Jorge Huerta Partida went through the evidence, refuting each point the prosecution had made in its 322-page closing argument.
Huerta stressed what the prosecution has already conceded: that it has no direct evidence -- either documents or witness statements -- that implicates Martin. Instead, the case is entirely circumstantial, though prosecutors claim there was sufficient evidence to show Martin must have known the money she received from Waage was illicit.
Cruz focused on Martin's legal rights, which he said were violated because she was never provided with an approved translator by either the police or the courts.
Back in prison Monday, an exhausted Martin said she is resigned to wait until the judge determines her fate.
"I do have hope," she said.
crusnell(at)thejournal.canwest.com
Jailed Canadian Breaks Down in Mexican Court
Charles Rusnell - edmonton journal
go to original
Jailed Canadian Brenda Martin broke down at her final hearing Monday and had to be escorted from the courtroom after a Mexican judge said he may not render a decision on her case by Friday as promised.
Global National reporter Paul Johnson, who is at the hearing in Guadalajara, told The Journal that Martin appeared composed as she made her final statement through a translator to the judge.
"I am innocent of the charges ... and want to go home to my family," Martin said.
The judge promised last week that he would try to issue a ruling by this Friday, but when he reiterated that by law he had 30 working days to rule, Martin broke into sobs.
She became ill and had to be escorted from the courtroom to receive a tranquillizer to steady her nerves, said childhood friend Deb Tieleman, who received a report from Martin's translator. She returned to the courtroom after about 10 minutes and appeared calm.
Tieleman said Martin entered the court with a team of lawyers, including three from Guadalajara, who have done free legal research to help Martin's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, of Toronto. Martin and her lawyers held hands before the hearing and Martin, who has suffered from physical and mental exhaustion, sat quietly in a borrowed, down jacket waiting for her turn to speak. When it came, she gave a lengthy statement to the judge in soft, low voice and did not cry or plead as she had at previous hearings.
Martin has been imprisoned since February 2006, charged with knowingly accepting illicit funds from an Internet fraud scheme operated by former Edmontonian Alyn Waage. Conviction on the charge carries a sentence of from five to 15 years.
Martin had been Waage's chef at his posh Puerto Vallarta mansion for 10 months until she was fired. Waage is serving a 10-year sentence in a U.S. prison. He has sworn an affidavit in support of Martin, who has always maintained her innocence.
Mexican court documents obtained by The Journal show that prosecutors have no direct evidence - documents or witness statements - that implicate Martin. The case is entirely circumstantial, but prosecutors claim there is enough evidence to show she must have known the money she received from Waage was illicit.
Her lawyers today argued that there never was any evidence against Martin and they addressed every allegation made by the prosecution.
The hearing continues.
crusnell(at)thejournal.canwest.com |
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