Suspected Colombian drug kingpin nixes plea deal

Court Alerts

The suspected leader of a Colombian cocaine cartel had planned to plead guilty Tuesday to a drug conspiracy charge, but opted at the last minute to go to trial instead because the deal prosecutors offered meant he would likely die in prison.

An exasperated U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz warned Jaime Alberto Marin-Zamora that the latest continuance in his case — the third — would be his last. She scheduled a trial for Sept. 26.

"That's the drop-dead date," Seitz told Marin-Zamora, who was clad in tan prison garb and was using earphones so he could hear an interpreter translate the judge's words to Spanish.

Defense lawyer David Fernandez told The Associated Press after the hearing that prosecutors offered a plea deal that would effectively mean a life sentence, which is the maximum Marin-Zamora faces if convicted of cocaine trafficking conspiracy at trial.

"We're not going to take a plea that would let him rot in jail for the rest of his life," Fernandez said. "We were looking for a number we could live with and my guy wouldn't die in jail."

Fernandez declined to discuss specific details of the negotiations.

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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

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