Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro to face US trial: Who are the judge and lawyers?

Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s former far-left chief who was captured this weekend together with his spouse Cilia Flores throughout a US particular forces operation, appeared in court docket Monday on federal narcoterrorism, drug trafficking and firearms prices.

The case has drawn comparisons to the same downfall of Panama dictator Manuel Noriega within the Eighties and seems for instance a reorganization of U.S. overseas coverage priorities throughout President Donald Trump’s second time period.

Maduro and Flores each pleaded not responsible in federal court docket on Monday and waived their proper to a speedy trial till no less than mid-March, when they’re subsequent scheduled to look in court docket.

FLORIDA GOP LAWMAKER DESTROYS DEMOCRATS’ VENEZUELA RESPONSE AS ‘TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME’

Imprisoned Venezuelan chief Nicolás Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores, together with their attorneys Barry Pollack and Mark Donnelly, will seem in federal court docket in New York Metropolis on Monday, January 5, 2026. (Jane Rosenberg)

Here is an summary of the important thing authorized figures within the case:

The decide:

Choose Alvin Hellerstein is presiding over the proceedings.

LAWMAKERS RIP BIDEN AFTER TRUMP-MADURO DESCRIPTION AGAIN – Name it baseless and politically charged

Maduro’s case will not be the one ongoing narco-terrorism case within the Hellerstein court docket. Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, a former Venezuelan normal, pleaded responsible final yr in Hellerstein’s presence to conspiring to commit and import narco-terrorism. He additionally pleaded responsible to prices of possessing machine weapons and damaging gadgets and conspiring to own extra.

U.S. District Choose Alvin Hellerstein presides over Manhattan federal court docket in a June 27, 2023, courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)

Former U.S. Legal professional Normal Invoice Barr, who performed a job within the 2020 indictment however is not concerned within the case, informed Fox Information on Monday that prosecutors had been in a position to acquire new proof from Carvajal that was not obtainable to his workplace years in the past.

The 92-year-old decide was appointed by then-President Invoice Clinton in 1998 and has performed a job in quite a lot of high-profile authorized selections, together with the discharge of pictures of Abu Ghraib, the rejection of proposed civil settlements from Harvey Weinstein, and a copyright infringement lawsuit between The Related Press and artist Shepard Fairey.

MAMDANI-LINKED DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS DEMAND TRUMP-FREE MADURO OUT OF LOCKUP – AND SEND HIM BACK TO POWER

Hellerstein rejected Trump’s requests to maneuver the Stormy Daniels case to federal court docket, leaving it to the New York state system, the place Choose Juan Merchan presided. He dominated towards the Trump administration in 2025, ruling that he used the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, with out court docket approval.

Stormy Daniels testifies throughout former U.S. President Donald Trump’s felony trial on prices that he falsified enterprise information to cover cash paid to silence Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan District Court docket in New York Metropolis, Might 9, 2024, on this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)

See also  Moody Bible Institute sues Chicago schools over faith discrimination

“He was appointed below Clinton, and other people assume he leans left,” mentioned Louis Gelormino, a New York Metropolis legal professional who has tried circumstances. “Nonetheless, I’ve at all times skilled him as sincere and honest, he has no choice for the proper or the left.”

TRUMP PROMISES US TO LEAD VENEZUELA AS HE REVEALS IF HE HAS SPOKEN TO DELCY RODRÍGUEZ

The Columbia Regulation College alumnus has served as a senior district decide since 2011 and was a member of the U.S. Military JAG Corps within the Fifties.

Within the Southern District of New York, felony circumstances are assigned to judges in a randomized process as soon as prices are filed.

“[Hellerstein is] at all times courteous and respectful to the events, however do not let legal professionals and litigants go too far,” Gelormino added. “The proper instance right now was Maduro beginning to wander. Lastly he lower it off.”

Maduro’s seize is ‘starting of the top’ for Cuba’s regime, says Home Intelligence Chair

The protection:

Legal professional Barry Pollack, who has workplaces in Washington, DC and New York Metropolis, has filed a request to look on Maduro’s behalf.

He has in depth expertise with giant, worldwide circumstances and the reversal of wrongful convictions.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walks with lawyer Barry Pollack outdoors the US court docket after a listening to in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, June 26, 2024. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)

SUNNY HOSTIN CALLS MADURO CAPTURE A ‘KIDNAPPING’, ACCUSES US OF ‘PIRACY’

He’s an adjunct professor on the Georgetown College Regulation Heart and negotiated the plea deal that freed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He represented a former Enron accountant and gained fraud acquittals after the corporate’s extremely public, multibillion-dollar collapse within the early 2000s.

One other high-profile shopper was Marty Tankleff, a New York man who was acquitted after serving seventeen years in jail for a wrongful conviction on prices that he murdered his mother and father of their residence in New York’s upscale waterfront village of Belle Terre.

“Pollack will argue for sovereign immunity for Maduro,” mentioned Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who put lots of of cross-border drug traffickers behind bars early in his profession. “He briefly introduced it up in court docket.”

Julian Assange’s American lawyer, Barry Pollack, speaks to the media, outdoors Woolwich Crown Court docket, in London, Nice Britain, February 24, 2020. (REUTERS/Hannah McKay)

See also  LA city councilman Curren Price faces trial for alleged public corruption

Pollack described Maduro’s arrest in court docket Monday as “a kidnapping” and mentioned he anticipated to file in depth motions because the case performs out.

“The argument will fail, similar to within the Noriega case, as a result of the International Ministry doesn’t acknowledge Maduro because the reputable head of state,” Rahmani mentioned. “Subsequently, the indictment alleges that Maduro is the illegitimate ruler of Venezuela.”

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY PRAISES THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S MADURO CATCH AS ‘MASTERCLASS IN PRECISION’

Nicolás Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, are seen in handcuffs after touchdown on a helipad in Manhattan, escorted by closely armed federal brokers as they board an armored automobile en path to a federal courthouse in Manhattan on January 5, 2026, in New York Metropolis. (XNY/Star Max/GC Photographs)

Maduro’s spouse will probably be represented by Houston-based legal professional Mark Donnelly, who will act professional hac vice.

He’s a former federal prosecutor in Texas who labored on behalf of the Texas Home of Representatives to question Legal professional Normal Ken Paxton. Paxton was acquitted by the Senate.

US DEPORTATION FLIGHTS TO VENEZUELA CONTINUE DESPITE NICOLAS MADURO’S ARREST AND GOVERNMENT TRANSITION

Donnelly mentioned in court docket on Monday that his shopper had been injured within the ribs throughout the Caracas raid and requested a medical check-up.

“Each Pollack and Donnelly will argue for immunity primarily based on official acts,” Rahmani mentioned. “That argument may even fail as a result of narco-terrorism and drug trafficking should not official acts.”

The prosecution:

Jay Clayton, the U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of New York, signed a superseding indictment over the weekend.

RUBIO FIRE BACK AT ‘CONFUSED’ CBS HOST OVER DECLARING THE SCOPE OF MADURO OPERATION

Assistant U.S. Legal professional Kyle A. Wirshba spoke for the federal government at Monday’s arraignment, however he was considered one of a couple of half-dozen folks seated on the prosecutors’ desk.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is questioned by Assistant U.S. Legal professional Kyle Wirshba earlier than U.S. District Choose Kevin Castel throughout his trial on U.S. drug trafficking prices in Manhattan federal court docket in New York Metropolis, March 5, 2024, on this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)

He’s considered one of SDNY’s most skilled prosecutors dealing with distinguished overseas figures accused of drug trafficking.

Wirshba is a member of the SDNY’s Nationwide Safety and Worldwide Narcotics Unit and has prosecuted the Tren de Aragua gang and its alleged chief, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, who can be named as a co-defendant in Maduro’s indictment.

VENEZEAN PRESIDENT NICHOLAS MADURO’S NARCO CASE Displays America’s Historical past of Tackling Alleged International Drug Lords

Wirshba has been concerned within the case for the reason that first indictment in 2020 and performed a number one position within the prosecution of former Maduro ally Cliver Alcala Cordones, who had been a normal within the Venezuelan military earlier than falling out together with his socialist boss and later pleading responsible to offering materials help to the FARC, an armed anti-government militant group in Colombia that U.S. officers say smuggled tons of cocaine into U.S. territory.

Retired Venezuelan military normal Cliver Alcala speaks throughout a press convention in Caracas on July 18, 2016. (JUAN BARRETO/AFP through Getty Photographs)

He’s the lead prosecutor towards Mexican cartel chief Jesus Mendez-Vargas, who the Justice Division says was extradited to face trial within the U.S. final yr and who secured the conviction of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in 2024 on cocaine trafficking and firearms prices.

President Donald Trump pardoned Hernandez in December.

VENEZUELA ORDERS NATIONAL manhunt for supporters after Maduro’s arrest by US forces

The prices:

Maduro faces 4 prices of narco-terrorist conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine weapons and damaging gadgets and conspiracy to own machine weapons and damaging gadgets.

Flores faces three counts: conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine weapons and damaging gadgets, and conspiracy to own machine weapons and damaging gadgets.

The Metropolitan Detention Heart (MDC) in Brooklyn, a United States federal administrative detention heart, is pictured on July 6, 2020 in New York Metropolis. It has housed Ghislaine Maxwell, Luigi Mangione, Sean “Diddy” Combs and now captured Venezuelan chief Nicolás Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores. (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP through Getty Photographs)

Each are being held in a federal jail in Brooklyn. Their legal professionals reserve the proper to hunt bail sooner or later, however authorized consultants say it’s unlikely the decide will grant this.

“That is an older indictment from 2020 and will have been signed by the Legal professional Normal given the excessive profile and politically delicate nature of the defendants,” Rahmani mentioned. “Invoice Barr could be very skilled and wouldn’t have accredited the costs until he believed the DOJ had enough proof to show the case past an inexpensive doubt.”

Prosecutors will doubtless depend on wiretaps, conspirators and undercover brokers, he informed Fox Information Digital.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Legal professionals on each side declined to handle the media outdoors the courthouse after Maduro’s arraignment on Monday.

Fox Information Analysis and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.