A journalist who received a painting from anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles as a gift must produce it at his trial and cannot bring in just photographs of the painting, the U.S judge in the case ruled Tuesday.
The ruling came just before Posada attorney Felipe Millan pushed a U.S. Department of Homeland Security lawyer to admit that the charges against the Cuban exile stem from a government trap. The DHS lawyer denied the allegation.
The painting, measuring 33-by-27 inches, was subpoenaed last week by the prosecution in an apparent attempt to prove that Posada had a high regard for journalist Ann Louise Bardach. Defense attorney Arturo V. Hernandez said in his opening statement last week that he would attack Bardachs' testimony.
Bardach fought but lost a battle against a prosecution subpoena to testify about her 1998 interview with Posada, in which he reportedly confessed to a string of bombings of Havana tourist spots. Her tape recordings of the interview also were subpoenaed.
Miami attorney Thomas R. Julin, representing Bardach, filed a motion last week asking U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone to quash the prosecution subpoena of the painting and noted she had already submitted photographs of the work.
Julin argued that requiring her to bring the painting from her home in California to El Paso would be ``unreasonable and oppressive'' because it is irrelevant to the case and the photos are an adequate substitute.
He also noted that transporting the painting ``created a significant risk that it will be damaged or lost'' and that introducing it as evidence would ``deprive Ms. Bardach of her personal property for a substantial period of time in the absence of any justification for doing so.''
Prosecutor Timothy J. Reardon III told Cardone that the motion ``approached the silly'' and asked her to reject it. The judge agreed.
To read the complete article, visit www.miamiherald.com.