Bail Hearing Set After Zuno Arce Plea
The brother-in-law of Mexico’s former president declared “I am not guilty. I am innocent,” as he was arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles Monday on perjury charges related to the slaying of a U.S. drug agent.
Ruben Zuno Arce, 59, a prominent Mexican businessman, is scheduled to have a bail hearing today in the perjury case. He was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles investigating the February, 1985, murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena.
Zuno Arce, whose sister is the wife of former Mexican President Luis Echeverria, is accused of lying to the grand jury when he denied knowing Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero, the alleged masterminds of Camarena’s murder.
Zuno Arce’s attorney, Edward Medvene, has said his client’s only connection to the case was that his house in Guadalajara was sold to reputed drug lord Caro before the Camarena murder. Zuno Arce, clad in a blue prison uniform, spoke through a Spanish interpreter as he declared his innocence to U.S. Magistrate Venetta Tassopolus.
Medvene is seeking the defendant’s release on bail.
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