Man skips trial for smuggling aliens
Bob Campbell

Midland Reporter-Telegram

Margarito "Mike" Ibañez' chair at the defense table was empty Tuesday while he was tried in absentia in U. S. District Court for transporting undocumented workers for financial gain.



Judge Robert Junell had adjourned the seven-man, five-woman jury at 11 a.m. Monday after giving up on the 38-year-old Mexican citizen from El Paso and issuing a bench warrant for the arrest of the accused coyote, a term for people who smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S.


Assistant U.S. Attorney John Klassen and court-appointed defense lawyer Scott Tidwell rested their cases about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and Junell set final arguments for 9 a.m. today in the case in which Ibañez was allegedly implicated after the fact.


Countering Tidwell's request for an instructed acquittal, Klassen said the testimony of Juan Espinoza that he was caught in Kermit driving a truck with six illegal immigrants in the back, two women and four men, at Ibañez' behest should convince the jury of the defendant's guilt.


U.S. Customs & Immigration Enforcement Agents Alex Rodriguez, Tim Stone and Stephen Peña of Midland on Tuesday described recording hundreds of cell phone calls among Ibañez, Espinoza and other conspirators in El Paso and Juarez before arresting Ibañez on June 13 in El Paso.


The defendant posted a $10,000 bond in U.S. Magistrate Court in El Paso and recently attended jury selection, according to court records.


The U.S. Marshals Service issued a wanted poster Tuesday and said Ibañez will be sought in Mexico if he is hiding there, though it "takes quite a long time, years, to get that done" by going through the State Department and Attorney General's Office in Washington and getting a judge in Mexico to issue a warrant.


When asked if his client's absence made him harder to defend, Tidwell said, "It makes it difficult to put on a case when you don't have your client to assist you."


He said Ibañez was the first of 45-50 people he had defended in trials to disappear, but it would not necessarily make him look guilty because defendants are presumed innocent and not required to present any evidence.


Klassen said the man could have gotten up to 20 months in federal prison if found guilty of the smuggling charge and could receive another two years if convicted of failure to appear in court.


"We're disappointed, but unfortunately it's not unheard of for a defendant to abscond at time of trial," the prosecutor said.

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