Two of the Cuban five for retrial
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- 12 / 08 / 2009
Earlier this year, a federal appeals court threw out the original sentences handed down for Ramon Labanino and Fernando Gonzalez, both 46, ruling that they were too harsh. Tuesday the pair will go before a judge to learn the lengths of their new sentences.
Labanino and Gonzalez were part of the so-called "Cuban Five," a group of Cuban nationals who belonged to the so called Wasp Network, which monitored terrorist information from Cuban-American groups against the island.
In 2001, the "Cuban Five" were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and other illegal activities. One was also convicted of murder conspiracy in the deaths of four Brothers to the Rescue pilots who were shot down off the coast of Cuba in 1996 but no evidence has been shown so far to the jury to prove these indictments.
The men appealed their convictions, claiming the trial should have been moved out of South Florida because of the anti-Castro sentiment in Miami. In 2005, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Atlanta agreed with the men, overturned their convictions and ordered new trials for them to be held outside Miami.
The full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then reinstated the convictions, but did order new sentences.
Labanino, who originally received a life sentence, is seeking a 30 years. Gonzalez was serving a 19-year term and seeks a 15-year sentence.
Source: cbs4.com
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