“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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Denisse Ahumada Martínez, PAN councilor in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, was re-apprehended and charged by Brooks County, Texas State Police officers and charged with possession of a controlled substance. Yesterday, a federal US Judge dismissed the drug trafficking charges that had been brought against her citing no probable cause for the search that led to the discovery of 42 kilos of cocaine hidden in her Mazda SUV while at the Falfurrias, Texas checkpoint north of the US/Mexican border.
She had been able to convince the judge that she did not know that there were drugs in the car she was driving and that they threatened her to drive it to San Antonio, Texas. This came after initial reports in the criminal complaint filed by DEA Special Agent Nicholas Landsman that she had confessed to smuggling the drugs and had done so before. In court, she claimed on a previous occasion had been threatened in the same way and had crossed with another vehicle.
State Charges & Re-Arrest
Denisse is currently being held at Hidalgo County, Texas jail on a warrant out of Brooks County. She is now facing a drug possession charge on the local level, according to Brooks County Sheriff Urbino “Benny” Martinez. “The norm has been that if the case is not accepted [in] the federal level, we adopt those cases,” Martinez said.
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DEA Agent’s Testimony Conflicted Criminal Complaint
The person told Ahumada-Martinez to drive from Reynosa to Monterrey on June 9. Ahumada-Martinez parked the Mazda in Monterrey. She picked up the car later that day and returned to Reynosa. The same person told Ahumada-Martinez to cross the border on June 10 and drive to San Antonio, Texas.
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Cross-Examination & Dismissal
Reyes asked if the government had any proof Ahumada-Martinez knew the Mazda contained drugs.
Landsman said, “Ahumada-Martinez was the only adult in the car.”
Reyes asked Landsman again: “Other than merely being present when Border Patrol found the cocaine, did the government find any evidence that Ahumada-Martinez knew the Mazda contained drugs?”
Landsman said no other proof existed.
“There’s a lot of stretching here and speculating, judge,” Reyes said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Marie Garcia pushed back.
“Given the circumstances, a reasonable person would assume the vehicle contained something illegal,” Garcia said. She maintained the government had enough evidence to establish probable cause.
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He assures that he fears for the safety of his client. “It’s easy for somebody to say: Well, you know, they’re still guilty. They could have gone to the police,” Reyes said. “There’s nothing until you face that situation where your life is under threat and you’re being threatened to do something by these organizations that you really know what that feels like and what that results in.”
“You have to prove intent. You have to give some evidence that there was intent to traffic narcotics,” said attorney Samuel Reyes. “In this case, the government did not do that and the judge made the right decision.”