SAN ANTONIO – Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys gave closing arguments Tuesday in the trial of Zetas cartel boss Marciano "Chano" Millan-Vasquez, who is accused in the slayings of hundreds of men, women and children while trafficking drugs from Mexico.
With no physical evidence, the prosecution asked the 14 jurors to use "common sense" in considering what 12 federal witnesses had to say. The defense countered by calling the witnesses with connections to the drug trade career criminals looking for a payout from the U.S. government.
The prosecution went over witness testimony describing the killing and burning of children, saying that Millan-Vasquez was the director of huge shipments of drugs across the border as a Zetas plaza boss in Piedras Negras, Mexico.
"Did the story make sense?" a prosecutor asked the jury, noting that the testimonies of the witnesses corroborated each other because they identified people only those within the Zetas organization would know.
The defense argued that no relatives of the victims testified and described the government informants as hardened criminals looking for lesser sentences.
Noting that one witness with multiple life sentences had the punishment reduced to 25 years, a defense lawyer told the jury the witnesses made up stories about commonly known events "to buy
and sell more credit" with the federal government.
Jurors are expected to begin deliberating the case Tuesday afternoon.