Nation IN BRIEF : MICHIGAN : Colombian Gets 15 Years in Drug Crime

A recently extradited Colombian was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a 1984 drug conviction linked to the notorious Medellin cartel. A U.S. district judge in Detroit imposed the sentence on Bernardo Palaez, 44, who had fled to Colombia during his trial. Palaez, one of 28 people named in a November, 1983, indictment, was free on $200,000 bond when he disappeared during the first week of his 18-day trial. The judge convicted him in abstentia of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Defense attorney Richard Lustig said he would appeal. He said the Colombian Supreme Court ruled in 1987 that the treaty under which his client’s extradition was sought did not apply.