Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Cooperating witness killed in Haiti

Jacqueline Charles has the sad story here:

Oriel Jean — the former security chief of ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and whose testimony in U.S. courts a decade ago helped take down key figures in Haiti’s drug trafficking underworld — was shot to death Monday in Port-au-Prince.
Haiti National Police Spokesman Gary Desrosiers confirmed Jean’s murder between the Delmas 29 and 30 neighborhoods not far from the international airport. Desrosiers said he was shot twice by three men on a motorcycle. News of Jean’s death and photos of his bullet-riddled body lying face down in a pool of blood on the street quickly spread through social media.
A friend of Jean’s who declined to be named for fear of reprisals told the Miami Herald that Jean was riding with a Dominican co-worker when the vehicle was struck from behind by a motorcycle. Jean was gunned down after he stepped out of the vehicle to check the damage.
“Nothing happened to the Dominican guy. [Jean] was the main target,” the friend said.
In 2005, Jean was sentenced to three years in prison in a money-laundering plea deal after helping the U.S. Attorney’s Office convict several Haitians and Colombians of moving tons of Colombian cocaine through Haiti to the United States. Among those convicted were Haitian former top police officers — some of whom are back in Haiti after serving their sentences — and a powerful drug kingpin, Serge Edouard.
Edouard received a life sentence after Jean testified that the drug trafficker gave him and other law-enforcement officials hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect his cocaine shipments to the United States.
At Jean’s November 2005 sentencing, U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez complimented him for his “good work.” In his court testimony, Jean indirectly implicated Aristide and also testified against him before the grand jury. Aristide was never charged and the statue of limitations ran out before U.S. law-enforcement officials could prove that he collected kickbacks from traffickers.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So much for witness protection. Snitching has consequences.

Rumpole said...

Live by the sword, die on a dirt road in Haiti.

Anonymous said...

Second snitch (or snitch's family) whacked in Haiti.

Snitching has consequences

Anonymous said...

These comments are disgusting...

Fake Papa Doc said...

I agree. Totally outrageous and inappropriate.

Anonymous said...

so many of our clients "have" to snitch in order to get better plea deals, yet the US govt doesn't protect them. I have seen the govt lie about future protection and future assistance, and then the client is harmed and even killed when they are returned to their country.....so sad.

Anonymous said...

Heard Serge Edouard is out of prison and in Haiti, is there any truth to that?