Drug cartel member, lawyer part ways in Puffinburger case
Breaking up is not always hard to do.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro on Tuesday allowed a member of a Mexican drug cartel and his attorney to part ways after both sides requested the action.
Attorney Robert Draskovich and his client, Jose Lopez-Buelna, both cited irreconcilable differences in their respective efforts to end the relationship. Navarro appointed Reno attorney Robert Story to take over for Draskovich at Lopez’s sentencing on Sept. 29.
Draskovich represented Lopez, one of four men charged in the 2008 kidnapping of then-6-year-old Cole Puffinburger, at trial in February.
The attorney helped convince a federal jury that Puffinburger’s kidnapping was a ruse cooked up by the boy’s mother and grandmother to lure the boy’s grandfather out of hiding.
Before that revelation came to light, the kidnapping garnered national media attention.
The grandfather, Clemens Tinnemeyer, ran off with $4.5 million in drug money from the cartel, which purportedly led to the boy’s kidnapping.
But defense attorneys poked enough holes in the case to persuade prosecutors to drop the kidnapping charges before the trial ended in February.
Lopez then pleaded guilty to drug and money laundering charges but balked when he learned he could face up to 30 years in prison, a virtual life sentence for the 50-year-old man.
Lopez unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his guilty plea.
Navarro denied the request, and on Tuesday she set a Sept. 29 sentencing hearing.
Federal prosecutors seek a 30-year term while parole and probation officers will request a 17-year term.
Lopez will also be sentenced after pleading guilty to illegally re-entering the country after being deported.
Draskovich after the hearing said his former client might rue the day he fired his attorney.
“We put him in a good spot,” Draskovich said. “He just shot himself in the foot.”
Contact Doug McMurdo at
dmcmurdo@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.
