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Seal killed testified in noriega trial THE WASHINGTON POST
Noriega Lawyer Scores Prosecution; Defense Tells Jury That Case Smells From Here to Washington':[FINAL Edition]
Michael Isikoff. The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext). Washington, D.C.: Apr 2, 1992. pg. a.03
Full Text (690 words)
Copyright The Washington Post Company Apr 2, 1992
The government's indictment of Manuel Antonio Noriega "smells from here to Washington" and is based on witnesses who are "the scum of the earth," Noriega's chief lawyer, Frank Rubino, said today as he began his closing argument in the former Panamanian leader's trial for drug trafficking and racketeering.
In a theatrical, two-hour performance laced with sarcasm and comedic one-liners, Rubino hammered at the prosecution's reliance on admitted drug traffickers and other convicted felons to testify against Noriega.
Noting that Assistant U.S. Attorney Myles Malman had told the jury of nine women and three men that the government's witnesses were "not some form of subhuman life," Rubino shouted: "They sure are. They're the scum of the earth. These people are disgusting. These people belong in cages."
Rubino's remarks came after Malman completed the government's summation, asking jurors to put an end to Noriega's "years of deception" and find him guilty on each of 10 counts against him. U.S. District Judge William M. Hoeveler said he expects jury deliberations to begin late Thursday or early Friday after Rubino finishes his summation and U.S. Attorney Michael P. Sullivan delivers the government rebuttal.
Noriega, Panama's self-proclaimed "maximum leader" until deposed in December 1989 after an invasion by 25,000 U.S. troops, is accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes from leaders of Colombia's Medellin cartel in exchange for turning his country into a safe haven for drug smuggling and money laundering between 1981 and 1986.
But his trial, once heralded as the most important drug prosecution in U.S. history, has been marked from the beginning by contoversy over the government's heavy dependence on unsavory witnesses offered reduced sentences, dropped charges or other incentives to testify against Noriega.
Although such tactics are hardly unusual in drug cases, many criminal-justice experts said plea bargaining for testimony reached new heights in this trial, one sign of the Justice Department's determination to secure a conviction.
Rubino began his summation by displaying a copy of the 1988 indictment of Noriega and waving it front of the jury. "This indictment stinks," he said. "It stinks like a dead fish. It smells from here to Washington. When you go back to the jury room, you should ask for a newspaper to wrap this indictment in."
Rubino, a veteran of Miami's "white powder" defense bar named for those who represent this city's abundance of accused cocaine dealers, then began reading from a chart listing the government witnesses and what incentives they had been offered for their testimony.
One witness he cited was Max Mermelstein, a former Medellin cartel transporter who admitted smuggling 56 tons of Colombian cocaine into the United States and plotting the murder of Barry Seal, a government informant.
Threatened with a sentence of life without parole after his arrest in 1985, Mermelstein turned government informant and spent only two years and 21 days in prison. He has joined the federal witness-protection program, and the government has given him $255,900 in rewards and $414,345 in living expenses for him and his family, according to court testimony cited by Rubino.
"We've got poverty in this country, we've got people on food stamps, we have homeless pople and we've got Max Mermelstein getting $670,000," Rubino said. "If that doesn't disgust you, nothing will."
Rubino then discussed the witness he called "the jewel of the Nile, the gem of them all" - Carlos Lehder, a Medellin cartel founder who began cooperating with prosecutors on the Noriega case last summer. "When they brought Carlos Lehder in here, the only way they could have outdone themselves was to bring in Charlie Manson," Rubino said.
Rubino also picked away at apparent inconsistencies among witnesses and at allegations that he contended "just don't make sense."
One example, he said, was testimony that Noriega, unaccompanied by security, met with cartel leaders in Medellin, Colombia, in 1983 to discuss helping a drug trafficker import a red Ferrari automobile and to receive a $500,000 payoff. The only "proof" the government could offer, he said, was a picture of a red Ferrari.
[Illustration]
PHOTO,,AFP CAPTION: In courtroom sketch, defense attorney Frank Rubino, center, addresses jury as Noriega, right, and Judge Hoeveler listen.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Dateline: MIAMI, April 1
Section: A SECTION
ISSN/ISBN: 01908286
Text Word Count 690
© 2002, 2004 The Washington Post Company
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