Federal Judge Rejects Verdugo Defense Plea to Question Witnesses

A federal judge Friday denied both a motion to dismiss drug smuggling charges against Rene Martin Verdugo and a request by his attorney for a hearing to question six Mexican men who allegedly seized Verdugo and turned him over to U.S. law enforcement authorities.

Defense attorney Michael Pancer asked that the charges be dropped because Verdugo’s arrest was so reprehensible that it “shocks the conscience of the court.” Assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Lasater said last month that the Drug Enforcement Administration paid $32,000 to six Mexican nationals who snatched Verdugo in San Felipe, Baja California, on Jan. 24.

Lasater said that Verdugo, 34, was handcuffed, blindfolded, put in the back seat of a car and driven to a spot about eight miles west of the Calexico port of entry, where he was turned over to U.S. marshals. Verdugo said his abductors shoved him through a hole in the border fence and into the arms of the marshals.

Verdugo is facing two federal indictments alleging that he conspired to smuggle marijuana into San Diego County. He is awaiting trial on charges that he smuggled a ton of marijuana from Tucson to Vista in 1983. Last month he was indicted again on charges of conspiring in May, 1981, to ship a ton of marijuana from Ensenada to San Diego.

However, federal investigators have told The Times that Verdugo is also wanted for questioning in the kidnaping and murder of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena. These investigators say that Verdugo was present during the torture of Camarena, who was killed last year near Guadalajara, Mexico, by drug traffickers.

On Friday, Pancer charged that the $32,000 payment to the six men--four former Baja California state policemen and two civilian accomplices--amounted to bribery and asked that the charges against Verdugo be dropped. Pancer based his argument on a 1974 decision by the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals that overturned the conviction of Uruguayan drug smuggler Francisco Toscanino on grounds that he suffered “cruel, inhuman and outrageous” treatment.

Toscanino was knocked unconscious by his abductors and taken to Brazil, where he was tortured and interrogated by Brazilian authorities for 17 days. After that, he was handed over to DEA agents, put on a plane to New York and arrested.

Pancer acknowledged that Verdugo was not tortured, but he claimed that he “nearly suffocated and feared for his life for 2 1/2 hours” during the ride to the border.

Pancer argued for an evidentiary hearing where he could question the “kidnapers” to demonstrate “the government’s outrageous conduct in this case.” He presented as evidence an arrest warrant issued March 25 by Baja California state officials for five of the six men involved in the abduction. The warrant charged the five with kidnaping and false imprisonment in the abduction of Verdugo.

Lasater declined to comment on the Mexican document but said that “even if there was evidence of (bribery), it doesn’t raise this case to the level of Toscanino.” Judge J. Lawrence Irving agreed with Lasater.

Later, Irving told Pancer that he had interviewed the six abductors in chambers without U.S. prosecutors or agents present and said that he agreed with Lasater’s claim that the men’s lives would be in danger if they were to be questioned by Pancer.

“I have some very serious concerns about the safety of these individuals,” said Irving. He said he instructed the six not to discuss the in-chambers testimony with federal prosecutors or investigators. Despite repeated requests by Pancer, Irving and Lasater have not said who has threatened the men.

Irving’s ruling may have closed the door on any chance for Pancer to question the men. Their testimony is limited only to how Verdugo ended up in U.S. custody, not with the current drug charges against Verdugo.

Pancer also contrasted Verdugo’s case with that of former Mexico City Police Chief Arturo Durazo, who was extradited to Mexico Tuesday to face extortion charges. Mexican officials tried for almost two years to persuade U.S. authorities to send the fugitive Durazo back, but Reagan Administration officials insisted that Mexico submit extradition papers.

Pancer noted that his client was not extradited and argued that “our government can’t have it both ways.”

“The government can’t expect Mexico to follow the extradition treaty, while it takes it upon itself to bribe Mexican police officials into kidnaping someone,” said Pancer.

Irving also denied a motion by Pancer to transfer Verdugo to the general population at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he is being held. Verdugo is in isolation on the jail’s fifth floor, where Pancer said he is not permitted to exercise, talk, watch television or use the telephone.

Pancer charged that Verdugo’s isolation is a “purely vindictive action” by the government to pressure him into testifying before a Washington, D.C., federal grand jury investigating Camarena’s murder. Irving denied the motion to transfer Verdugo until Pancer and MCC officials “exhausted all administrative remedies” in Pancer’s attempt to move Verdugo out of isolation.

Irving did take into submission a request by Pancer that the government make available to him five audio tapes that Camarena’s kidnapers made of the torture session. Federal sources have told The Times they believe that Verdugo’s name is mentioned in the tapes.

Pancer said that when Verdugo was taken to Washington in February to testify before the grand jury, U.S. officials took a voiceprint from him to compare with those from the five tapes.

“If they have a tape or tapes, I think we’re entitled to it,” said Pancer.

Lasater said that he had no intention of using the tapes at Verdugo’s drug trial, but Irving said he will consider Pancer’s request for the tapes and set another hearing for May 5.