Leonel Villalobos is, was, the defence lawyer for one of the two Mexican nationals linked to the crashed plane with 177 kilograms on board last October and at centre stage of the attempt by the two alleged drug traffickers to leave La Reforma prison for house arrest.
During the past more than ten days Leonel
Villalobos has been active in the failed attempts by the Mexicans to get
approval by the Pavas court of their new domicile, following an order by the
judge Katia Jiménez, giving them the benefit of house arrest.
During the
past week or more, protests by citizens and objections by the Fiscalia and the
Ministerio de Seguridad Pública (MSP) have stalled the release to house arrest,
as residents blockade their areas to prevent the men from living among them and
the MSP to approve each of the two domiciles presented by the defence.
On
Wednesday the Pavas criminal court judge Joaquín Hernández removed Leonel
Villalobos from the defence team, when a long time officer of the Fuerza Pública
(police) - the same officials who apprehended the two Mexicans on their flight
from Costa Rica, near the Nicaragua border - told the court that he has been
under pressure by Villalobos to change his story.
The defence has
maintained that the two men, the subject of a manhunt and caught on October 11,
2010, were not fleeing Costa Rica the day after the plane crash in Pavas, but
rather on their way to visit family in Mexico.
That version was rejected
by the Fiscalia and the reason why the men were given preventive detention,
where they still remain in La Reforma's maximum security unit.
Given the
testimony of the police official on Wednesday morning, judge Hernández, decided
to keep the Mexicans at the La Reforma and to return on Friday for a new
hearing, while they sort out who will take the place of
Villalobos.
Outside the courthouse, Villalobos denied contacting or
pressuring the police official and said that he had three domiciles for
consideration by the court, after the same court rejected the previous
two.
Villalobos is adamant that the court - judge Hernández - is abusing
his power in not enforcing the earlier court order by judge Jiménez.
The
job of defending both Mexicans may fall on Gilberto Villalobos, who has been
legal representative from the beginning for one of them and was not in court on
Wendesday. It is expected the Gilberto Villalobos will be representing both
Martínez adn Mendoza at the Friday morning hearing.
The Fuerza Pública
official told the court on Wednesday that Leonel Villalobos visited the Peñas
Blancas detachment where is assigned and being asked to change his
report.
The officials said that he had a conversation with Villalobos "in
the street", in a normal tone, where he was asked to change part of his story,
in particular the part on how the apprehension went down.
"This man I do
not know, I have never seen him before in my life, but, he told the judge, in
front of me, that I was the one to pressure him", Villalobos asserted to the
press outside the courthouse.
The court ruled that the actions of Leonel
Villalbos is an obstruction of justice and removed him as the defence lawyer for
the accused.
Back to Leonel Villalobos.
The defence lawyer has a
history of his own with drug trafficking and the Pavas criminal court judge
Katia Jiménez.
Villalobos was detained and given preventive detention
after being accused in 2008 for hiding money of drug traffickers. Katia Jiménez
was the judge releasing Villalobos from preventive detention while the
investigation into his involvement in the money laundering case
continued.
The case against Villalobos is still
pending.