One legal eagle isn't flying so high anymore in a drug cartel case.
A federal judge in San Diego, CA has disqualified the lead attorney for reputed Mexican drug kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix as reported by Richard Marosi for the Los Angeles Times:
Federal prosecutors were attempting to get the attorney, Jan Ronis, kicked off the case in part because he allegedly worked on behalf of the Arellano Felix drug cartel to dissuade a witness from cooperating with U.S. law enforcement. Judge Larry A. Burns said Ronis' alleged cartel role, while unproven, was sufficient to create an appearance of a conflict of interest, and he also sided with prosecutors who said Ronis' past representation of a potential witness in the current case posed a conflict.
Arellano Felix, the former alleged head of the Tijuana cartel which is based out of Mexico's northern state of Baja California, was extradited by Mexico last month to face U.S. justice as then reported by Richard Marosi and Tracy Wilkinson for the Los Angeles Times: "Authorities allege the cartel generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, using the money to bribe Mexican military and law enforcement officials and to purchase weapons that enforcers would use to torture and kill enemies in Mexico and the San Diego area."
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