Suspect Held in Cardinal’s Slaying Is Denied Asylum

A street gang member wanted in the slaying of the cardinal of Guadalajara faces imminent deportation after a U.S. federal judge Monday rejected his request to remain in the United States and seek political asylum, authorities said.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff ruled that suspected hired gun Adolfo Marin Cuevas may not apply for asylum because of his criminal record.

“There are no lawful grounds for him to be granted political asylum,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. John Pierce.

Marin’s lawyers had argued that he faces torture or death at the hands of authorities if he is returned to Mexico.

Barring a last-minute reprieve from a federal appeals court in San Francisco, Marin will be eligible for deportation at noon today, authorities said.

Marin, 27, is one of five gang members arrested in the United States in connection with the death of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo and six others in May in a shootout at the Guadalajara airport. The other suspects face extradition or deportation proceedings.

Authorities charge that the members of San Diego’s 30th Street gang formed an assassination squad that was sent to Guadalajara by a Tijuana drug cartel to kill a rival kingpin and killed Cardinal Posadas by mistake during the shootout. The prime suspects in the cardinal’s death--three brothers who run the Arellano cartel and their top lieutenants--have eluded capture despite a sweeping investigation.

Four additional San Diego gang members were arrested in Mexico last year; one of them died mysteriously in prison.

In September a judge ordered Marin’s deportation, finding that he was in the country illegally. His attorney appealed, arguing that Marin faces grave harm at the hands of Mexican police, citing the prison death and presenting claims that the other suspects were tortured repeatedly in Mexico. Marin sought political asylum on those grounds.

But Judge Huff said Monday that the law makes Marin ineligible for asylum because of his 1989 conviction for dealing PCP, which makes him an aggravated felon.

Deportation proceedings are pending in the case of the most recently arrested suspect, Isaac Guevara Hernandez, who was caught by San Diego police last month and is accused by Mexican authorities of having taken part in the Guadalajara shooting.