U.S. JUDGE RELEASES MAN WANTED IN MEXICO

A U.S. federal judge Thursday ordered the release of a Juarez lawyer after
finding there was no evidence to support his extradition to Mexico on
drug-related charges.

Lucio Cano Barraza was arrested May 26 at his West El Paso home on Mexican
charges of drug smuggling, money laundering and organized criminal
activity. The U.S. Marshals Service had alleged he was "a member of the
criminal organization of the late Amado Carrillo Fuentes."

Cano, who denied the allegations, was held at the El Paso County Jail
without bond until Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Mesa ruled there was no evidence for the
charges against Cano from a set of documents about 2 feet thick provided by
the Mexican government.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose Acosta, who represented the extradition
request, said he was limited by the evidence provided by Mexico. "The
evidence is what it is," he told the judge.

Cano's defense lawyers, Bernard Panetta and Mary Stillinger, said the
charges were reduced to information about Cano's sale of a home in the 100
block of De Alamo in Juarez's Club Campestre subdivision.

According to court records, Cano allegedly sold the home in 1996 to a
bricklayer. Mexican officials claimed the sale was meant to conceal the
property's true owner, but they never revealed who the true owner might be.

Mexican authorities also alleged that police found mugs with photos of the
daughters of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes at the house two years later.
Conflicting information indicated they were daughters of the late Amado
Carrillo, Vicente's brother. Panetta said the mugs proved nothing.

Panetta noted a Mexican federal police report that said police saw Vicente
Carrillo in 1998 and followed him to Cano's former house, but did not
arrest him.

Vicente Carrillo was wanted in 1998 by Mexican officials on drug charges.
U.S. officials recently indicted him in 10 Juarez deaths.