Verdict delayed in Honduras sex-trafficking case linked to disappearance
Summary
A Honduran court postponed its verdict in the trial of four men charged with crimes linked to Angie Peña’s 2022 disappearance. The court said it needs more time to review evidence and wait for an interpreter to return; it set November 20 as the new date.Key Facts
- The verdict had been expected on Monday, when the court announced the delay.
- Two U.S. citizens, Harold Green and William James Murdock, face human-trafficking charges.
- U.S. citizen Gary Lee Johnston and Honduran citizen Gustavo Trejo are accused of criminal association.
- The defendants’ lawyers deny their clients’ involvement and have sought acquittals.
- Peña went missing on January 1, 2022, after leaving by jet ski from West Bay on the Honduran island of Roatán; the jet ski was later found in Belize.
- Prosecutors allege the suspects belonged to a network involved in drug trafficking and sex trafficking of minors, and say police and at least one judge helped it. The officials were not named.
- A key protected witness, Dereck McNeil, was killed in August. Before his death, he alleged corruption in a special prosecutor’s office unit; the unit’s director denied wrongdoing and said it did not investigate Peña’s disappearance.
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