Court releases Arizona woman held in Mexican prison after pot is found under her bus seat
A Mexican court has released an Arizona woman imprisoned after military police found 12 pounds of pot under her bus seat.
A Mexican court released Yanira Maldonado on Thursday and she crossed the border into Arizona shortly after midnight on Friday. CNN, Reuters, USA Today and the Arizona Republic have stories.
A Mormon, Maldonado said she read Scripture and prayed during her ordeal, according to the CNN story. She said the Mexican soldiers who arrested her at a checkpoint should “repent,” find “respectable work” and stop making people suffer. Maldonado’s husband, Gary, has said the soldiers wanted a bribe, USA Today says.
Yanira Maldonado was arrested on May 22 when she and her husband were traveling home from a funeral in Mexico. Video evidence shown in court on Thursday showed Yanira Maldonado boarded the bus carrying only a purse, two blankets and two bottles of water. Defense lawyer Jose Francisco Benitez Paz had argued nothing she was carrying could have hidden such a large amount of drugs.
Gary Maldonado said legal proceedings in Mexico aren’t over but his wife’s lawyer will handle matters in her absence.
