Vol. 75/No. 31      September 5, 2011

The Cuban Five—Hernández plus Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, and René González—had been tracking the activities of Cuban American paramilitary groups in Miami with a long history of armed attacks against Cuba, activities tacitly supported by Washington.

Hernández was sentenced to a double life term plus 15 years on murder conspiracy charges for the Cuban government’s decision on Feb. 24, 1996, to shoot down two hostile aircraft that had repeatedly and provocatively violated its airspace, despite repeated warnings from Havana. The planes were flown by the counterrevolutionary Cuban American group Brothers to the Rescue. The other four are serving sentences of between 15 and 30 years.

The new brief answers the government’s refusal to grant Hernández a new, separate trial on the murder conspiracy charge requested in March. It expands on the arguments his attorneys made then and elaborates upon Washington’s propaganda efforts that tainted the trial.

Hernández’s attorneys present evidence that “counsel failed to properly understand, investigate, and present a proper defense,” including failing to call key witnesses and submit important evidence. Paul McKenna, his public defender, did not move to separate out the murder conspiracy charge for a separate trial, nor explain to Hernández his right to do so. A separate trial would have allowed Hernández and other defendants to testify on his behalf. If Hernández was given the opportunity to testify he would have been able to present evidence that he had no way of knowing the Cuban government would shoot down the planes.

Along with the new brief, McKenna filed an affidavit supporting Hernández’s request for a new trial: “I believe that the Government’s case against my client was exceptionally weak, and that my errors at before and during the trial allowed the Government to convict my client even though it had no direct evidence of criminal intent on his part.”

The brief also contends that the government paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to journalists in Miami—where the government insisted the trial take place despite defendants’ request for a change of venue—to create prejudicial publicity. This “constitutes an unprecedented violation of a criminal defendant’s right to a fair trial, and calls out for a remedy,” say Hernández’s attorneys. The government has refused to acknowledge its unconstitutional media campaign, despite a 2006 front-page article in the Miami Herald that exposed it titled “10 Miami Journalists Take U.S. Pay.”

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund in Washington, D.C., also submitted an affidavit in support of Hernández that details the government’s withholding of information on its payments to the journalists.

In an August 1 statement, the Cuban National Assembly said, “Now is the time to redouble our actions” in defense of the Cuban Five. The assembly demanded the U.S. government release the facts on its secret campaign to prejudice the trial by paying journalists to spread lies and that it turn over satellite images of the shootdown of the Brothers to the Rescue planes.

The statement also noted that Hernández is now facing new obstacles to consultation with his attorneys. One of the attorneys, Richard Klugh, told the Militant there have been increased delays in circulating legal documents between the attorneys and Hernández and holdups in gaining authorization to visit him in prison. “Every inmate faces these kind of problems,” he added, “but in Gerardo Hernández’s case, it’s much worse.”
 
 
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Event in LA wins new support for Cuban Five
Cuban court upholds term for US agent  
 
 
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