GOVERNMENT'S DELAY PRODUCING DOCUMENTS DRAWS JUDGE'S IRE

TAMPA - U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich agreed to postpone
a high-profile drug trial - but she didn't like doing it.

"I am very disappointed, to put it mildly, that the state of this
case is the way I find it today," she told lawyers Wednesday.

Joaquin Mario Valencia-Trujillo, accused of being a leader in a
Colombian drug cartel, was to begin his monthslong trial Monday.
Kovachevich agreed with lawyers that would not be possible.

Most of Kovachevich's ire was aimed at federal authorities.

Defense attorneys said they wanted to go to trial but had not
received investigative documents regarding key witnesses against
their client, despite orders from the court that prosecutors hand
over those documents.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph K. Ruddy told the judge that he gives
defense lawyers documents as soon as he gets them. He said law
enforcement agencies - specifically the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency and Immigration and
Customs Enforcement - have been slow to provide papers.

Kovachevich said the government had until Wednesday to provide all
paperwork that pertains to government witnesses. If the documents are
not handed over by Wednesday, prosecutors will not be able to use
those witnesses at trial, the judge said.

Prosecutors were ordered to hand over by Wednesday transcripts of 15
audiotapes used in the investigation of Valencia.

A new trial date wasn't set. Lawyers were ordered to meet next week
with a jury coordinator to go over the list of potential jurors.

The defense also has several outstanding motions, including one to
dismiss the charges against Valencia because federal authorities
seized key defense documents.

Earlier this month, U.S. customs agents stopped a defense
investigator as he tried to re-enter the country from Colombia. His
name was flagged because federal investigators were trying to
determine whether he was involved in money laundering. He since has
been cleared.

By order of an assistant U.S. attorney, the customs agents seized a
handful of the man's records. Defense attorneys said those records
included Valencia's defense strategy.

Prosecutors said that although the records were held in their Tampa
office, no one involved in Valencia's case had access to them. The
records have been returned to the defense.

Valencia, 48, was the main target of Operation Panama Express, a
decade-long international drug trafficking investigation based in
Tampa. He was extradited from Colombia two years ago.

Authorities said he was a leader in the Cali Cartel, which is thought
to have shipped 100 tons of cocaine a year into the United States.

The trial is expected to last six months and feature testimony about
violence, international intrigue, treachery and vast amounts of
money. Jurors will consider whether to convict Valencia on federal
charges of racketeering, drug trafficking and money laundering.

The charges normally carry a maximum sentence of life. Under the
extradition agreement with Colombia, however, Valencia's maximum
possible sentence is 40 years.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini contributed to this report.