Drug Trafficking—Ramiro Lopez-Imitola

A man who has been described as one of the biggest heroin traffickers ever extradited to the United States has been sentenced to 40 years in prison.^[1] This fact on its own is not especially unique or unheard of—drug sentences are among the most severe punishments in the federal criminal system. What makes Ramiro Lopez-Imitola’s sentence especially noteworthy is that it was imposed under a particularly bitter debate about the terms of an agreement provided by the United States to Colombia.^[2]

Mr. Lopez-Imitola is described by federal prosecutors as a “brutal drug lord who led an international heroin trafficking organization that sold $200 million worth of the drug in the United States alone.”^[3] He allegedly used a hot iron on one of his drug couriers, and eviscerated the corpse of another courier—who had died of an overdose—to get the drugs that were hidden in his body.^[4] Mr. Lopez-Imitola denies doing so, saying that he is not the “animal they are trying to take to the slaughterhouse,” and that he admits he is guilty but “not as guilty as they’re making [him] out to be.”^[5]

The controversy about his sentencing, however, centered not on his alleged behavior, but on an assurance given by the United States to Colombia.^[6] The US promised Colombia that Mr. Lopez-Imitola would not be sentenced to life in prison; Mr. Lopez-Imitola, however, is 61 years old and in poor health.^[7] The US government wanted him to be sentenced to 60 years in prison, which it claimed was approved by the Colombian government as an appropriate sentence because that is apparently the maximum sentence allowed in Colombia;^[8] we were under the impression, however, that Colombia’s maximum sentence is 40 years.^[9] According to an August 16, 1995 decree, the President of Colombia declared a state of internal unrest and mandated a prison sentence of between 40 and 60 years for heads of organized criminal conspiracies if they were public servants, or if they used people under the age of 12 to commit crimes; the provisions, however, were to last only for the duration of the internal unrest.^[10]

Whatever the case may be, U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson tried to balance what exactly constituted a life sentence, finally settling on a 40 year sentence because there was a chance he could possibly be released from prison while still alive.^[11] We previously discussed respect for agreements between the US and other countries on May 25. Since Mr. Lopez-Imitola’s case was brought in New York (which is in the 2nd Circuit) Judge Patterson could have pointed to precedent had he wanted to disregard the agreement, but it seems he chose to follow principles of international comity.

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[1] Larry Neurmeister, US Judge: 40 Years for One of Biggest Foreign Drug Catches, AP, May 31, 2006 (subscription only).
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] See our August 25, 2005 posting, here; see also Kim Housego, U.S. Vows to Defeat Colombia Traffickers The Ledger Online, Aug. 24, 2005 (no longer available online).
[10] See Office of the President of the Republic, Decree No. 1371, Aug. 16, 1995 (via UNODC).
[11] Neumeister, supra note 1.