More than a year after his conviction, and following numerous logistical complications and delays, former Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna will file his formal appeal this week against the trial and sentence imposed on him for drug trafficking charges.
Sources close to the former official’s defense indicated that the opening statement, signed by the former official, along with the complete case file, will be submitted to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals no later than Thursday, thus initiating the review of the case.
Prior to this, and with authorization from the Court granted on December 2nd, defense attorneys led by Cesar de Castro visited the former official at the ADX Florence supermax prison in Colorado, where he is incarcerated, to finalize the details of the appeal.
According to information shared with this media outlet, García Luna is in good spirits and confident that the arguments gathered against the trial, the verdict, and the sentence will be sufficient to have the case overturned.
It is worth recalling that the former official’s defense originally had 90 days to file this appeal, a period that began after his lawyers notified the Court that they would appeal the 38-year prison sentence imposed on him on October 16, 2024.
However, the defense requested extensions of this deadline on three separate occasions, arguing and demonstrating the difficulties they had experienced, primarily with communication with their client, due to García Luna’s frequent transfers between prisons and the communication restrictions imposed on him at various times during his incarceration.
The Court corroborated the communication problems between the defense and their client, a situation that the defense lawyers considered extraordinary and unprecedented, and granted the requested extensions. The last one established that the appeal must be filed no later than December 18.
