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Both
sides hobbled in Key West hijacking trial
By Catherine Wilson, Associated
Press Writer. Published Sunday, November
30, 2003 in The
Ledger, FL.
MIAMI - The defense isn't getting the witnesses
it wants and prosecutors lost half of the
confessions from six Cuban men charged with
hijacking a plane from the communist island
to Key West.
From their perspectives, each side is hobbled
going into a politically charged trial Monday
on charges carrying potential sentences
of 20 years to life in federal prison.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who claims the
United States is soft on hijackers, did
a national television segment with smiling
crew members and passengers after they returned
from their interrupted journey March 19.
In contrast, defense attorneys say they
were locked for hours in a Cuban airport
lounge under armed guard on an August trip
intended to generate favorable testimony.
"The Cuban government has played games
with the United States," defense attorney
Reemberto Diaz claimed in court last week.
Underlying the courtroom fights are four
decades of testy U.S.-Cuba relations, a
spate of air and boat hijackings that ended
in three Cuban executions and a U.S. immigration
policy unique to Cubans.
But even a DC-3 hijacking that ended with
a fighter escort and footage of the men's
runway surrender does not guarantee convictions.
None of the six suspects are cooperating
with prosecutors, which means the jury won't
get an inside view. The FBI forgot to give
Miranda warnings to three of the six men
even though prosecution was all but guaranteed,
which means jurors will hear only three
confessions.
After the Miranda blooper was disclosed,
prosecutors added charges of crew interference,
which are easier to prove, to air piracy
and conspiracy charges, all of which carry
possible life sentences.
Because of rules limiting testimony against
co-defendants in joint trials, the men's
statements have been edited to delete the
total number of hijackers and references
to any of the other men, leaving it up to
jurors to piece together what they can.
Cuba is providing the pilot and a steward
as prosecution witnesses, and the United
States has asked Cuba to deliver the co-pilot
and flight mechanic as defense witnesses.
The defense can be expected to challenge
the reliability of Cuban airline workers,
whose salaries are paid by their government,
in a case where Cuba would like to convict
anybody the United States puts on trial
for hijackings from the island nation to
discourage other flights of fancy.
The hijacked flight - which was supposed
to fly from the Isle of Youth to Havana
- carried a total of 37 people, including
the six defendants and six crew members.
Not counting the defendants, 14 opted to
stay in the United States.
In a boost to the defense, 18 people on
the plane were unable to identify the hijackers,
misidentified them or saw no violence or
threats during the flight.
Admitted ringleader Alexis Norneilla Morales
told the FBI that he worked for a year on
the plan and smuggled knives on board by
passing them through a restroom window beyond
the airport's security checkpoint a week
early.
Norneilla signaled the others when he could
see Havana to commandeer the flight. Three
hijackers rushed the cockpit, four crew
members were tied up at the rear of the
plane, and the hijackers handed out refreshments.
The defendants said their wives and children
traveling with them were not in on the plot
- a crucial fact that allowed the relatives
to go free under America's wet foot-dry
foot policy after the men were arrested.
Cubans who don't commit crimes getting
to the United States are allowed to stay
if they reach U.S. soil. Anyone intercepted
short of land is subject to immediate return
to Cuba.
All but one of the Cuban witnesses sought
by the defense are relatives, who could
take advantage of the same policy if Cuba
allowed them to travel.
"That's why we're in a quandary right
now," said prosecutor John Wallace.
"But it's a quandary of the defense's
own making."
The Cuban government told the U.S. government
two weeks before trial that the defense
witnesses could be questioned under oath
in Cuba only, but no firm arrangements were
offered.
The conditions are "tantamount to
agreeing to a jail sentence," defense
attorney Ana Jhones wrote in court papers
citing human rights abuses in Cuba. "The
United States has stood idly by as Cuba
has dictated the rules of engagement."
She questioned whether Cuba was violating
the Hague Convention by failing to guarantee
the "greatest measure of assistance"
as the international treaty requires in
hijacking proceedings.
U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King
suggested the defense could raise the issue
of missing Cuban witnesses after prosecutors
rest their case in a trial expected to last
five to seven days.
The men hoped to delay their trial while
their attorneys pushed for another chance
to interview witnesses in Cuba, but King
refused.
He said he couldn't order Cubans to appear
in court in Key West, he wasn't sure they
would have anything to say that would help
the men, and U.S. prosecutors were not required
to do more than they already have.
In other recent hijackings, a Cuban architect
sentenced to 20 years said hijacking another
plane to Key West on April 1 was worth it
to get his wife and child into the United
States.
Fifteen Cubans were sent home in July after
Cuba promised it would not execute any of
them for hijacking a government-owned boat
that was intercepted at sea by the Coast
Guard.
Three Cuban men were killed by firing squad
days after a thwarted boat hijacking in
April.
Copyright 2003 The Ledger
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