Manuel Noriega will face drug trafficking charges alone after the remaining co-defendant in his drug and racketeering trial pleaded guilty Wednesday.
The plea came just before final pretrial motions were to be heard this morning by U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler, with jury selection scheduled for Thursday.Accused drug pilot Daniel Miranda will face a maximum 30-month sentence, will receive a permanent U.S. visa and have his pilot's license restored under the plea bargain, said his attorney, Michael O'Kane.
Miranda, who already served three months in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center before being released on bond, may have to serve no more than 30 additional days in prison, his lawyer said. The Panamanian pilot was accused of flying drug profits from Fort Lauderdale to Panama.
Miranda agreed to testify against the ousted Panamanian dictator if called upon. Sentencing was delayed until after the trial.
In another last-minute move prior to Wednesday's hearing, federal prosecutors asked that one of the 11 counts Noriega faces be dropped. The judge agreed, signing an order overnight dropping the charge.
The charge dropped, one of 11 Noriega faced, alleged Noriega caused Tony Aizprua, a drug pilot-turned-informant, to travel from Fort Lauderdale to Panama in 1984 in furtherance of the cocaine-trafficking conspiracy.