United States v. Botero

In 1981, a federal grand jury in Miami returned an indictment charging Hernan Botero (defendant) with involvement in a $57 million money-laundering scheme, punishable by up to 35 years of incarceration. Considerable evidence presented at Botero’s brother’s trial implicated Botero as the scheme’s mastermind. In 1981, Botero was in Colombia, where he was a prominent citizen from a very wealthy family. Botero had a good reputation and no arrest record. Although Botero quickly learned about the indictment, he did not return from Colombia to the United States. The United States government (plaintiff) asked the Colombian government to extradite Botero pursuant to an extradition treaty. In 1984, the Colombian government arrested Botero. Botero successfully resisted extradition on 10 charges that were not subject to the extradition treaty. After Colombia extradited Botero, Botero continued to challenge the court’s jurisdiction to try him for the remaining charges of conspiracy, false statements, and five counts of mail fraud. The government moved for Botero’s pretrial detention. The magistrate judge ordered Botero’s detention without bond, after determining that Botero posed a serious flight risk and no combination of conditions could reasonably ensure his trial attendance. The magistrate judge denied Botero’s motion for reconsideration although Botero proposed additional pretrial-release conditions, including a $2 million bond, full-time supervision by a person approved by the prosecution, conditions comparable to house arrest, and execution of an extradition waiver that would apply to any country. Botero appealed the magistrate’s order.