JOH’s lawyer asks for the trial to be postponed for at least six months

Tegucigalpa, Honduras.– The former president’s new public defender JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZa lawyer Renato Stabilewho joined his case three days ago, asked the judge this Friday to extend the trial in between Three to six months.

By addressed document Kevin CastleTelling him “Mr. Hernandez, to assist the current attorney, Raymond Colon, I am writing to request a postponement of the trial for two reasons.”

In a document shared by the former first lady, Ana Garciathrough Extension from 90 to 180 days To resolve the matter.

It should be noted that the first reason appearing in the document published by Garcia cannot be read because it was censored.

Attorney Stabile argues that the reason is that “since I was appointed 3 days ago, I have learned that the material that needs to be reviewed is overwhelming and that there are procedural issues related to classified information in this case that are very unusual.” Complex representation.

“I also understand that there are documents and recordings in Spanish that have not all been translated. I don’t speak Spanish. “Now that I have a better idea of ​​what is involved in this case, even under the best of circumstances or circumstances, it would be extremely difficult to effectively assist Mr. Hernandez in such a short period of time.”

The public defender expanded in his letter to Judge Castel that “For example, I have been in contact with discovery attorney Emma Greenwood’s office to obtain a copy of the discovery. They will deliver it to me tomorrow, Saturday, because it took all night to copy the entire discovery onto the hard drive, Because it contains more than terabytes of data.

The legal professional also emphasizes the huge burden of documents in the trial against the former Honduran ruler. “To put this in perspective, one terabyte is equivalent to about 85.8 million pages of text or 17,000 hours of audio. Although I obviously cannot hope to review that material before February 12, I am concerned that it will be impossible to review the relevant parts in addition to the material itself.

Stabile tells the judge that he feels capable of defending Hernandez as long as he is given a reasonable amount of time. “If I have had sufficient time to prepare so that I can effectively represent Mr. Hernandez, the combination and peculiarities of this case require that I request a continuance to protect Mr. Hernandez’s due process rights and his right to effective assistance of counsel.” “

“I know that based on the discussions at the January 23 hearing, the court has worked very hard to schedule this case. I sincerely apologize to the Court for finding myself in this situation and for the inconvenience I am causing to the Court, Government and other parties. “I looked to myself to see if there was any way I could keep the trial schedule consistent with my constitutional and moral obligations to my client,” Stahl details in his lawsuit.

And he ends by making a new request to Judge Castell. “But at this time I am requesting an adjournment for at least 90 – 180 days to allow Mr. Colon to assist in further trial preparations and to provide effective assistance to Mr. Hernandez.”