Four key suspects in the killing of Haiti’s president appeared for the first time in U.S. federal court Wednesday to face accusations that they plotted and participated in his assassination, a day after they were transferred to the United States for prosecution.
Haitian-Americans James Solages, Joseph Vincent and Christian Emmanuel Sanon and Colombian citizen Germán Rivera García looked calm as they entered a federal court in Miami wearing beige prisoner uniforms with their hands and ankles shackled.
They did not speak at the hearing, except to petition for a public defender when Judged Alicia Otazo-Reyes asked each of them if they can afford to pay an attorney.
“I would appreciate it if the court would appoint a counselor,” said Solages, the second of the defendants called by the judge to listen to the charges. He, like each of them, answered “no” when the judge asked if they have work, savings
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