Thread by @innercitypress

OK in #Honduras trial this is it: the closing arguments, US 3 hours, Tony Hernandez 1 hour, then Judge Castel's jury charge. Last night's story here patreon.com/posts/30789074 Below, @SDNYLIVE thread

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA Bove begins by saying Tony Hernandez help bring 1.6 *billion* doses of cocaine into the United States, each one of which could be a tragedy. He began his crimes in 2004...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Tony Hernandez used the Honduran National Police. He stockpiled his money. By 2006, he was a supplier and a manufacturer with connections in Latin America. He put his initials on the cocaine....

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Tony Hernandez rotted the public institutions of Honduras. His National Party lost elections in 2005. They vowed to never lose again. They devoted drug money to National Party campaigns, 2009, 2013, 2017. These were bribes

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: They turned the government against the people. Early on the defendant relied on bad apples. But by 2010, defendant and ASSOCIATES [JOH?] controlled the government. State sponsored drug trafficking

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Beginning in 2010. The president of Honduras deployed the military to the border of Guatemala to protect drug trafficking.

*The president of Honduras deployed the military to the border of Guatemala to protect drug trafficking.*

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Chapo Guzman came and gave the defendant $1 million for his brother, Juan Orlando, to get elected president.

*Chapo Guzman came and gave the defendant $1 million for his brother, Juan Orlando, to get elected president.*

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The defendant got elected to the Honduran Congress, he continued to work on cocaine trafficking. "At the beginning of this trial, Mr Malone said trial are like CAT scans... When defense makes arguments, you can look at them

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Let's imagine a man in Ohio who brings in 200,000 kilos of cocaine into Ohio. Is it conceivable that such a man would never be investigated? There was more than one such man in Honduras

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Crimes of this scale, they require official support. That is what the defendant provided. He smothered Honduras in corruption, and that is what this trial has shown. Let's talk about the cooperators. The defense says they are on a revenge trip...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: We're not here to vouch for the cooperators. But the defendant chose them, for his state sponsored drug trafficking. Only they can tell you what he did. They came to the US and admitted all their crimes. They admitted murder, torture...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Does it make any sense these witness would come to the US and admit to things, just to testify against the defendant? No. There's a false claim that these people were extradited by Juan Orlando Hernandez. This is false...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The testimony of just one of these witnesses is enough to convict the defendant. But you heard from five of them. And five types of physical evidence. The first is the recording, gov't exhibit 401... Tony H promised payments to get around US sanctions.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Then you have the photo of the defendant's T.H. kilos, in evidence. "This isn't clip art." Remember when the defense asked if his fingerprints were found on the kilos? He basically signed them, with his initials.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The third physical evidence are the drug ledgers, seized with cash and guns. [Trial began with this.] You also have the defendant's post arrest statement, Exh 403. He admitted relations with traffickers, including some who testified at this trial

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Tony H admitted he understood their drug routes, their shipments. He said, "That's T.H., that's me." The things the defendant said to DEA after his arrest is another piece of powerful evidence.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Then there's what the DEA seized from the defendant: phones with photos of cash and machine guns, Exhibits 202 and 203. That's the overview: 5 cooperating witnesses, 5 classes of physical proof. Beyond a reasonable doubt.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Now about the charges, four of them. First is conspiracy to import cocaine. Does it involve more than 5 kilos? That's the legal threshold. The smallest was 200-some kilos on his helicopter.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Counts 2 and 3 involve machine guns and destructive devices, a fancy word for hand grenades. Count 4 is lying to federal agents. ...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: We'll start with how cocaine gets from Colombia to the US, through Central America. This is shown through the ledger, seized from a trap in a vehicle stopped in Honduras.

Processing cocaine involves gasoline and other poisonous chemicals.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The drugs come on a plane. The ledger says Nava. Yesterday Chang told you that is a Piper Navajo.

The traffickers are worried about the radar. Rojo spoke about air radar, and Chang confirmed it. They pay so that radar does not interfere with the Navajo

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Once the drugs get to Honduras, have to get them to Guatemala, toward the bigger cities where the cocaine is worth more money. They protect it with the Honduran national police

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Then you have to cross it into Guatemala. This is illustrated in the wire taps, Male 1 to Male 2, about the T.H. kilos, referring to San Pedro Sula...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: In the ledger, he made $4.9 million for a single drug shipment. The ledger by itself shows the defendant's involvement. Rojo said a lot about how that worked. By 2006 the defendant had his own lab. You heard it from Roho, Alex Ardon and Chang

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Now, the defendant's state sponsored drug trafficking. How do they get it through Honduras? The defendant in his post arrest statement described traffickers wanting access to politically powerful people

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: You heard from Giovani Rodriguez, about work for El Rojo and for the defendant...

Now let's talk about some of the other politicians: Valenzuela, a Congressman. Calix, who began a mayor...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The defendant said on tape that he connected to drug traffickers through Juan Carlos Valenzuela, a colleague from the Congress... His contact info was still saved in the defendant's phone

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The defendant admitted going to a meeting with drug traffickers in a restaurant that Calix owned... There's a photo of the defendant with Calix, and Calix' contact info is in this phone, modified just two months before his arrest

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The defendant's job was to take payments to make sure there were no problems with the drug shipments. How did he do it? He provided radar info from his military connections. He relieved on Mauricio Hernandez and Giovani Rodriguez for info about check points

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Copan is important because it contains a major road into Guatemala. Ardon was a mayor there.
The defendant provided information about Honduran military bases and movements, so that drug shipments could be planned.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Now let's talk about the defendant as a manufacturer... He used the T.H. logo; compare it to the side to the Tommy Hilfiger logo

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Rojo and Chang told you about 500 kilos sent on a phone into Honduras, into an air strip controlled by Mario Calix, then transported to Rojo and into the United States. Any one drug shipment, it's guilty on Count 1.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Another one, through El Espiritu, controlled by the Valle brothers. Chang bought 700 of those kilos and helped to import them into the United States.
Five more times, the defendant sent 700 kilos drug shipments into the US. Five. More. Times.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: By 2010, defendant and his associates took control of the government. In 2005, the National Party lost to Mel Zelaya, who then had a lot of power into who became head of Congress. For several years, the defendant and his brother had more limited power

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN And right there, on Mel Zelaya, Judge Castel calls a break. Thread will continue.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN And we're back. AUSA picks up: Before the break we were talking about the defendant's state sponsored drug trafficking. The defendant and his associates took over the government. On the screen is testimony from Alex Ardon...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Ardon was allied with Juan Orlando Hernandez, the defendant's brother, now the president of Honduras. In 2009 they said, the coup is great, it has divided the Liberal party and we can take power..

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Ardon and the Cachiros aligned with the National Party, in Colon and beyond. They worked through Oscar Najara, here are photos of him in the hot tub

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: This is a list of the bribes that drug traffickers paid to Pepe Lobo and Juan Orlando Hernandez:
Alex Ardon described paying $2 million to help Juan Orlando to become leader of the Congress

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Drug traffickers and the National Party control the presidency, they control Congress...

The defendant uses a helicopter, there are pictures on his phone...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Beginning in 2010, the defendant and Ardon began to help Chapo Guzman move cocaine through Honduras.

Chapo was bringing cocaine to San Pedro Sula. He needed protection, though Ardon's town, into Guatemala. Arbon moved a ton a month.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Chapo was the leader of the Sinaloa cartel. To protect his drugs, the Honduran National Police was used. And the Televisa trucks, basically a TV network - six tons of cocaine in a truck. Chapo asked Ardon to fill them. Ardon asked for T.H. cocaine

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: They brought it in by boat, to be loaded on Chapo's trucks, also with the defendant's cocaine stamp, to import those drugs into the United States. The defendant had so much power and anyone that challenged him was murdered.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Franklin dared say to Ardon, I'm going to stop it unless you pay me. Ardon goes to the defendant, who says, Let's kill him.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: So Tony Hernandez got his friend Tigre Bonilla to kill Franklin.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: When the defendant was interviewed by the DEA, he slipped up and let them know he knew about this drug route. This shows you that he's guilty.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The defendant slipped up and told the DEA about Melvin Pinto, Ardon's right hand man....
In 2012, the Constitution was amended - the US pressured Pepe Lobo to allow extraditions. Professor Euraque told you this. After that, traffickers went to Tony H...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: But Tony H told Ardon, don't worry, that's just for show. You will not be extradited as long as the National Party is in power.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Ardon told you how Tony H allowed traffickers to use his helicopter, and provided more military and radar information.
By 2015, the cash is starting to pile up. Giovani Rodriguez saw a three and a half foot stack of bills in Tony Hernandez' closet.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: To protect himself, Tony H decides to run for Congress. There was an agreement between the defendant, Ardon, Chapo and the Valle brothers that if they paid this money, they could traffic cocaine.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Chapo handed the defendant $1 million to get his brother Juan Orlando Hernandez elected president, a position he still holds.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Then Chapo and the defendant decided to cut Ardon out. Here is a photo of a machine gun with the defendant's brother's name on it, the president's name.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: In 2014 one of the drug workers was arrested. What happened to Chino? Tony H decided the man had to die. Ardon told you how this murder happened from his perspective. Rivera told you his perspective. 2 witnesses described this murder. Tony H was happy

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Now, the Denny's meeting. The Cachiros, Oscar Ramirez... Rivera explained how OFAC issued an announcement sanctioning the Cachiros, but Tony H sat with him, a notorious drug trafficker. The defense tried to say it was legit biz

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The meeting at Denny's in Tegucigalpa was about money laundering. It doesn't matter that they were wearing business casual.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The defendant was holding the contract of the Cachiros' front company; he said he would go to Hugo Ardon, who had been given a government position in public works in exchange for drug money

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Now AUSA is running through the law applicable to the four counts Tony H is charged with. This means he's wrapping up, after 2 hours and 10 minutes...

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA, coming to a close to jury: You say a permit the defendant had for a machine gun. You don't need that to drive around Honduras. You need it to protect drug trafficking shipments.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Tony Hernandez told a federal agent, I have never received money from any drug shipment. It was a lie [that's count 4, the last count.] "This is not a close question, ladies and gentlemen."

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA ends: "Do justice, find this man, untouchable in Honduras, guilty on all charges."
Judge Castel to jury: Your lunch has arrived. I don't wish any of my jurors indigestion. The defense summation will happen after lunch.
Thread will continue.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN OK - Tony Hernandez' defense summation has begun. It's by Michael R Tein of Tein Malone in Coconut Grove, Florida. He says he will take two hours. The thread is continuing - he starts with the phrase "shock and awe."

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein: This is not a referendum on the drug war. The prosecution was a lot like a history lesson. But the problem was, it was a history lesson written with testimony of five of the worst people we could be asked to rely on.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein: These witnesses are so bad, you should not believe what they say about anyone. Five multi-, multi-murdered. You can't believe them, to convict someone beyond a reasonable double.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein: When they brought all those machine guns in here? That was scary. The prosecutors have a job to do, and we have a job to do.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein calls the government's witnesses "liar, loser and murderer." Says the guns brought into the courtroom were not Tony Hernandez's.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein tells jury all the have are statements by Ardon and el Rojo.

[But what about Tony Hernandez's own post arrest statement? Well, an hour and a half to go...]

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein: "Having photos of guns on your phone is not enough to show that those guns are yours."

[But when was one gun labeled 'Juan Orlando H.'?]

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein is saying, El Rojo was responsible for 78 murders.
AUSA: Objection.
Tein: Oh, you're right, that was the Cachiro... there are a lot of cooperators here.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein: They used every technique known to US law enforcement... They sent people in with watch phones... and what they've shown you is all they got.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein is about to hit his two hour limit. Judge Castel is rolling around on his chair behind his bench.... Things are coming to a close.

[Note: at the lunch break 2 Hondurans told Inner City Press by SDNY cafeteria, "El no va a salir de aqui;" the other said "Ojala.']

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein is already 25 minutes over his time, now running through a litany of nicknames: El Flaco! El Gordo! El Toyota! But Tony Hernandez!

Judge Castel tells him: You have seven more minutes.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein is playing this for all it's worth, tells jury, "I only have a few more minutes," says that all of Tony Hernandez' guns - including machine guns - were legal in Honduras.

#Crowdsourcing says different; AUSA 30 - or 35? - minute rebuttal coming next.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein's closing argument: A man who buys Christmas pajamas at Target with a credit card cannot be a drug trafficker.

Thoughts?

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN Tein is done. Judge Castel has declared a break. Inner City Press must run & check another @SDNYLIVE case - but feel free to opine: can a man, Tony H, who used his credit card at Target - Target! - to buy pajamas also solicit drug money for his bro, the President?

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN It's AUSA Houle giving the rebuttal, quoting from stipulations that Tony Hernandez' lawyers agreed to. She says, as to the Denny's meeting, Tony H doesn't say that's not him. They're trying to say Rivera "clipped" the exhibit. Houle: Rivera is no tech genius.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA Houle: You can watch that Denny's video on mute and know it's not businessmen: it's drug trafficker, dirty lawyer, murderer of 70 people. So why was Tony Hernandez meeting with them? These were his people. These were his partners.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA Houle: Sometimes massive cocaine traffickers have bank accounts. It doesn't magically transform you into a law abiding person.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA Houle: In fact, a big cocaine trafficker might want to save money. It might come in handy. Chang talked about that. Use your common sense on this one.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA Houle: Defense counsel has argued, on guns, that Honduras is dangerous and everyone has machine guns. First, there's no everyone is doing it defense. Second, if you can't trust the police it's because the Defendant paid them all off

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA Houle: Even if it were legal to have those guns, it would not make it legal to use them to protect drug shipments. I expect you'll hear an instruction on that.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA Houle: Defense counsel said the machine guns were crazy. Right. That was the point, so that no one would challenge the defendant's drug shipments.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Why would the defendant sit down with US law enforcement? Because he is incredibly arrogant. He thought he could get away with it. He was wrong, and that's why he's sitting in front of you today.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: In 2018, he was trying to talk his way out of the arrest. He was acting in pure politician-speak to Agent Gonzalez. And what he said different from what he said in 2016.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Defense counsel said the witnesses are "liars, losers, murderers," you can't rely on this. But it's the defendant who partnered with them. El Rojo. Alex Ardon, to transfer Chapo's cocaine.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Unless a Girl Scout was trafficking cocaine, we can't call her as a witness. And unless a choir boy were toting machine guns, he's not a witness in this trial. The defendant claimed the witnesses were signed sealed and delivered by JOH. False.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Alex Ardon was never once investigated in Honduras, even though Tony H said everyone knew he was a drug trafficker. There is no evidence any of these witnesses would have been extradited.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: Only the Valles were extradited - and only because they tried to assassinate Juan Orlando. The message of that extradition was not that JOH was tough on drugs, but only tough on his enemies

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: The only these witness get the [5K1] letter is if they testify truthfully. Minimum for Ardon is life plus - it's an incredible motivation to tell the truth and not lie.

@sdnylive @MatthewLeeICP @HCHTelevDigital @unetvhn @HoymismoT @TN5Telenoticias @elpulsohn @UnivisionNews @radiohrn @DiarioLaPrensa @Mundo_PN AUSA: This is a case about a drug trafficker who "used his brother" the President to protect his business.
The rebuttal is over. Judge Castel asks jurors to stand and stretch. Seems he'll read them the charge now, so deliberations begin tomorrow at 10. Story soon