Defense records seized by authorities returned, defense asks for dismissal
By Brian Cole
Published on May 26, 2006
Officials at the U.S. attorney’s office claim no one involved in the prosecution saw the documents. However, the defense attorney’s paperwork was kept at the Tampa, Florida prosecutor’s office after it was confiscated.
A week after the documents were seized, the government has been forced to return them to Valencia-Trujillo’s lawyers who are now calling for a dismissal of the charges. A U.S. magistrate judge has prohibited those involved in the seizure from speaking about contents of the documents which outlined the defense strategy.
Valencia-Trujillo is accused of being a drug kingpin in the Cali drug cartel and was the most wanted suspect to come out of a 10-year federal drug investigation run from Tampa.
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