U.S. Case Against Ye Gon
In 2007, Zhenli Ye Gon was indicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia with a single count of conspiracy to aid and abet the manufacture of 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, knowing or intending that it would be imported into the United States. Federal agents arrested him in a Wheaton, Maryland restaurant on July 23, 2007. From the date of his arrest, Mr. Ye Gon has always maintained that he is not guilty.
Mr. Ye Gon was scheduled to go to trial on his U.S. charge in September 2009. On June 22, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss its case against Mr. Ye Gon, citing Mexico's interests as well as evidentiary concerns. At a hearing on the same day, prosecutors admitted that one of their key witnesses had recanted. His criminal defense attorneys, Manuel J. Retureta, of Retureta & Wassem, PLLC, and A. Eduardo Balarezo vigorously litigated this Brady issue before the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan. As a result of the efforts of Messrs. Retureta and Balarezo, all charges brought against Mr. Ye Gon by the government of the United States were dismissed with prejudice on August 28, 2009.
Mexico's separate pending criminal charges against Mr. Ye Gon were not dismissed, however, and the U.S. Department of Justice continued its efforts to extradite Mr. Ye Gon to Mexico to face criminal charges there. Renewed efforts to have Mr. Ye Gon released on bail following the dismissal of his U.S. criminal case proved unsuccessful, and a magistrate judge ordered that Mr. Ye Gon must remain in custody pending a decision on whether the U.S. can extradite him to Mexico to face charges there.
In March 2010, Mr. Ye Gon retained the services of lawyer Gregory S. Smith., to represent him in his extradition case before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. On February 9, 2011, Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola certified Mr. Ye Gon's extraditability to Mexico to face charges there. Mr. Ye Gon remains in the United States as he awaits a decision on his Writ of Habeas Corpus before the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
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