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Havana doctors: Grim prognosis for brother of convicted spy |
Roberto González, a lawyer in Havana, is in imminent danger. He was recovering from lung cancer treatment when doctors discovered a malignant brain tumor and life-threatening circulatory problems.
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Roberto González |
His brother, René, is desperate to see Roberto González one last time. But he can't just hop on a plane.
René González was convicted in the notorious Wasp Network spy case in 2001. He served 13 years of a 15-year sentence before being freed in October 2011.
As part of his three-year supervised release, González must get permission from the court or his probation officer to travel to Cuba.
His lawyer, Philip Horowitz, filed a
four-page motion on Feb. 24 asking that District Court Judge Joan A. Lenard allow González to travel to Havana for two weeks to see his brother. (See Cuban doctors' report on González
in Spanish and
in English). Lenard hasn't yet responded, according to online court records consulted today.
President Bill Clinton nominated Lenard to the district court in 1995. In 2009, she
reduced the sentences of two men convicted in the same Cuban spy case that sent González to prison for 15 years.
But in September she denied René González' request to modify his sentencing agreement to travel to Cuba. In a
four-page ruling, she wrote:
The Court finds that Defendant’s Motion is premature. ... Some amount of time on supervised release needs to pass before the Court is able to properly evaluate the characteristics of the defendant once he or she has been released from prison or whether there is a continued need to protect the public from further crimes.
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René González |
Prosecutors had argued that González was a potential threat and needed supervision. In a
13-page document, they wrote:
The serious nature of his offenses as part of a conspiracy to defraud the United States and to operate as the covert agent of a foreign power; his expressed lack of remorse; and his stated commitment to continue doing what he feels necessary to “improve” the United States all reflect the wisdom and necessity for the court’s original sentence, including three years of supervised release with special conditions designed to protect public interests to the maximum allowed. This is especially so because Gonzalez is a United States citizen, with the ability to remain in, or to travel and return to, the United States in the future, including once his supervised release ends.