U.S. lawyers face retrial on Colombia drug charges

By Patricia Zengerle

MIAMI (Reuters) U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday they were
prepared to try again to convict two U.S. lawyers of committing
crimes for Colombia's Cali drug cartel after the first
fivemonth trial ended in a nearstalemate.

On Monday, the 12member jury said that it had acquitted
attorneys Michael Abbell and William Moran on one count of
conspiracy in the case, but was deadlocked on four other charges
against the two men, both former federal prosecutors.

On Wednesday, senior U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler
declared a mistrial on the undecided counts.

Prosecutors told the court they were prepared to try the
case again. ``We are ready to go forward to retry those counts
that the jury is hung on,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney William
Pearson said. He declined any further comment.

Abbell is a former top U.S. Justice Department official who
went from pursuing drug lords to representing them. Moran is a
former U.S. prosecutor who also became a defense attorney who
represented cartel leaders.

In a case that broadened the traditional scope of its drug
war to include defense attorneys, the government charged that
Abbell and Moran crossed a line from representing the drug gang
to participating in trafficking. Four other lawyers named in the
1995 indictment have pleaded guilty to reduced charges.

But defense attorneys said their clients were charged for
acting as responsible defense lawyers.

``You know this is an important case about the rights of the
criminally accused to have the most effective counsel and a
lawyer who's prepared to do everything he has on behalf of his
client,'' Abbell's attorney, Howard Srebnick, said.

Moran said he might have to serve as his own lawyer in a
retrial, saying he has no money to pay attorneys. ``I simply
don't know where the money is going to come from,'' he said.

Four other defendants faced charges of shipping and
warehousing drugs. The jury found Luis Alfredo Grajales and
Eddie Martinez guilty on some of the charges and Ramon Martinez
and Jose Luis PereiraSalas not guilty.

Abbell, former chief of the Justice Department's Office of
International Affairs, founded a law firm specializing in
criminal defense of foreign clients, including cartel chieftains
Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela and his brother Gilberto.

He acknowledged that the long trial period has not been
easy. ``I consider myself not guilty and I will persevere in
that,'' he said. ``Any time you are on trial for a period of
five months, it is tough, particularly when it's not in your
home city,'' he told reporters after leaving the court.

The trial resulted from a fouryear investigation known as
Operation Cornerstone, which prosecutors said exposed shipments
of thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States hidden in
everything from fence posts to frozen broccoli.

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