No verdict yet in major Colombian drugs case

By Patricia Zengerle

MIAMI (Reuters) Jurors in one of the biggest U.S. cases against
Colombia's Cali drug cartel reached some verdicts in the complicated case
Monday, but the presiding judge ordered them sealed while the panel
continued to deliberate.

Attorneys, defendants' relatives and reporters packed a federal courtroom
after they were told the jury had reached verdicts. But Edward Davis, chief
judge of the U.S. District Court in Miami, said the panel had reached
unanimous verdicts on some counts, but not on others.

The jurors had deliberated for eight days before Monday.

Davis, who was filling in for trial Judge William Hoeveler, who was on
vacation, sent the 12member panel back to reconsider the unresolved
charges. They met for two more hours Monday before leaving without a verdict.

``You will not be asked to reconsider verdicts that you have already
reached unanimously,'' Davis said.

He also ordered attorneys not to discuss the case.

Participants in the trial said they could not explain what had happened.
One said the jurors may not have realized they had to reach unanimous
verdicts on every count against each of the six defendants.

The trial began in May and came after a fouryear investigation known as
Operation Cornerstone, which federal officials said uncovered shipments of
hundreds of thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States hidden in
everything from fence posts to coffee and frozen broccoli.

The best known defendant is Michael Abbell, an attorney whose Washington
law firm specialized in criminal defense of foreign clients, including
cartel leaders Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela and his brother Gilberto.

Abbell was chief of the U.S. Justice Department's Office of International
Affairs during the Reagan administration. Another attorney on trial,
William Moran, was a former federal prosecutor who also worked for the
cartel leaders.

Federal prosecutors charge the other four defendants Luis Alfredo
Grajales, Eddie Martinez, Ramon Martinez and Jose Luis PereiraSalas
helped warehouse and ship drugs. They said Moran and Abbell crossed the
line from representing drug cartel clients to promoting their illegal
business.

All the defendants have entered not guilty pleas.

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