Arellano trial date pushed back

Defense given time to review evidence

By Onell R. Soto and Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

January 4, 2007

A San Diego federal judge yesterday reluctantly granted a defense request to delay the trial of accused narcotics kingpin Francisco Javier Arellano Felix and scheduled a hearing in three weeks to set a new trial date.

At the same time, U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns made it clear he has no intention of delaying the trial to the end of the year or beyond, as the defense requested.

Arellano, 37, is accused by law enforcement in Mexico and the United States of running the large and violent Tijuana-based drug cartel that bears his family's name.

He and another man, Manuel Arturo Villarreal Heredia, were captured in August when the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted their sport fishing boat off Baja California Sur.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will eventually decide whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty.