Former Chihuahua Governor has six months to prepare defense on embezzlement charges
JUAREZ, Chihuahua -- Chihuahua's former governor has six months to prepare for his embezzlement and criminal association trial.
Last week, Cesar Duarte Jáquez's defense team was granted extra time to prepare his legal case.
Duarte was Chihuahua's governor from 2010 to 2016. During his tenure, he was accused of stealing money from the state. Duarte allegedly embezzled more than six-million dollars between 2011 and 2014, according to state prosecutors.
Records show Duarte made his way through El Paso and eventually vanished. A year after he was out of office, Interpol began looking for him in March 2017.
Duarte was arrested in Miami on June 2, 2020.
Just two weeks ago, he was extradited to Mexico and is now in jail in Chihuahua.
"The state attorney general has executed an arrest warrant against Cesar D," Chihuahua's Attorney General Roberto Fierro said the day of Duarte's extradition. The former governor is now facing 21 counts of corruption and fraud associated with the embezzlement allegation.
Duarte's lawyers asked the judge not to show his face during the procedural hearings, which began June 3th. At Duarte's last hearing last Wednesday, the judge ordered Duarte to stand trial on June 8. The former governor's trial is supposed to start in six months.
