|
Brenda Martin found guilty
Brenda Martin, the Canadian who has been held in a Mexican jail for over two years
By Dave Sykes
Friday April 25, 2008
Brenda Martin, the Canadian who has been held in a Mexican jail for over two years, was found guilty of involvement in an internet investment scheme by a judge late Tuesday afternoon.
The 51-year-old Martin, formerly of Trenton and with ties to Huron County, was “devastated” by the news and reportedly collapsed after learning the judge had found her guilty and handed out a five-year sentence without parole and a fine of 35,800 pesos, equivalent to about $3,600.
The ruling was a severe blow to Martin and her many supporters who expected the judge to find her innocent and allow her to escape the two-year ordeal in the Guadalajara prison. In fact, her friend and tireless advocate, Brenda Tieleman, had already booked a flight to Toronto and clutched two airline tickets at the hearing.
Cruz Rico, Martin’s lawyer, said his client will apply to transfer to a Canadian prison and authorities in both countries had agreed to process the application quickly. She will have to wait out the five-day appeal period before a transfer could be processed.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day told CTV News that the matter would be processed quickly so that Martin could be transferred to Canada. Once the transfer is approved, Martin may end up spending a few weeks in a Canadian prison before being released.
Her Mexican sentence would have to be converted to a Canadian sentence for the equivalent crime and if both countries agree to the converted sentence, Martin could be escorted back to Canada to Kingston prison. Jason Kenney, a federal cabinet minister who visited Martin in Mexico, said the government is prepared to move quickly and expedite her application to return to Canada.
Martin has spent more than two years behind bars in Mexico after she was arrested in February 2006 in connection with a $60 million online investment scheme run by her former boss, Alyn Waage, who supported Martin’s innocence in a sworn affidavit. He is now serving a 10-year sentence in a U,S. federal prison. The judge ruled that she knew there were illicit funds involved and therefore found her guilty of that charge.
Martin has been on suicide watch and her mother, Marjorie Bletcher, was afraid the guilty verdict might “push her over the edge.”
|
