New York, United States
The Federal Court for the Southern District of New York received this Wednesday the document by which the former Honduran deputy, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, Filed an appeal with this court.
Hernandez, sentenced to life in prison for 30 years on charges related to drug trafficking on March 30, insists on his innocence, which is why he is filing an appeal.
According to the document entered in the electronic file of the case, to which THE PRESS has had access, the appeal procedure began the day after the sentence, that is, on the 31st of March.
The document was sent to the judge’s attention Kevin Castel, Who has been assigned to the case from the beginning and was the one who handed down the sentence against Hernandez.
The document also states that the appeal not only includes the sentence handed down last week, but also the conviction that found Tony guilty in October 2019.
The appeal was filed by the lawyer Peter Brill, Who, for the purposes of this appeal, remains Tony’s legal representative, despite the fact that he had expressed his dissatisfaction with the practice of law, so that it was presumed a possible cessation of his duties as representative legal of the Honduran.
The process continues
The Court will give appeal to the appeal, so Tony’s case will go from a court of first instance to the Court of Appeals, which will presumably be the Federal Court of Appeal. Of the Second Circuit, which is the court in jurisdiction fall cases arising in the federal courts of New York State (which includes that of the Southern District).
This step is the most recent given in the case of Tony Hernandez, since his arrest in Miami, Florida, in late November 2018.
Eleven months after his arrest, the brother of President Juan Orlando Hernandez was subjected to a two-week trial in which he was found guilty of drug trafficking, possession and use of weapons and destructive devices, and giving false statements to federal officials in October 2019.
A year and five months after his sentence, Hernandez was sentenced to life imprisonment, after which he began processing the appeal.
It is now up to the Court of Appeals to review the case, either to set aside the process or to reaffirm the sentence.