News Brief — Federal Capital Case Dismissed Because of Prosecution’s 14-Year Delay

NEWS (3/​12/​20): Citing a 14-year delay by fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors in bring­ing the case to tri­al, a fed­er­al dis­trict court in Texas has dis­missed a fed­er­al cap­i­tal mur­der indict­ment against a Salvadoran man charged with killing two Honduran immigrants.

The indict­ment alleges that the two vic­tims were being held for ran­som by a human-smug­gling oper­a­tion and that Wilmar Rene Gomez-Duran had tor­tured and mur­dered them after they tried to escape. Senior Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt (pic­tured) of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas dis­missed the charges with prej­u­dice, say­ing that inex­cus­able delays by the pros­e­cu­tion had made it impos­si­ble for Gomez-Duran to defend against the charges. Hoyt wrote that ​“the integri­ty, effi­cien­cy and cen­tral­i­ty of the rule of law and good con­science dictates dismissal.”

The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas has appealed the ruling.