FBI Mexican drug related kidnapping trial ends in SC hung jury

A 10-day criminal trial in federal court in Columbia resulted in a hung jury last week in a highly publicized case involving a Mexican drug trafficking group and the kidnapping of a St. Matthews man.

Law enforcement officers from dozens of different agencies had worked on the case, spending more than $1 million to arrest and prosecute the two defendants: Juan Manuel Fuentes-Morales, of Monterey, Mexico, and Ruben Ceja-Rangel, of Mexico. They had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison on federal kidnapping charges, brandishing a firearm while committing a crime of violence and hostage taking.

The status of the case of a third person charged, Luis Castro-Villeda, was not known Friday afternoon.

Law officers say the suspects, on orders from a Mexican drug trafficking group, kidnapped the unidentified St. Matthews man at gunpoint in July 2014 because he had either lost or stolen a $200,000 shipment of marijuana weighing about 200 pounds. The Mexican group wanted its $200,000, and the kidnapped man said he could not give it to them.

The case drew widespread attention in part because court documents filed by the FBI revealed the existence of a major Mexican drug trafficking organization that had an established a marijuana pipeline into South Carolina and North Carolina.

Neither of the two defendant speaks English, and two simultaneous English-Spanish translators were used throughout the trial. More than 20 witnesses testified, mostly for the prosecution. The defendants, neither of whom testified at trial, remained jailed.

On Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Columbia had no comment on whether the case would be retried after the 12 jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict, but indicated it might.

“As a matter of law, after a mistrial, a case remains pending as if the case had not yet been tried,” the office said in a statement.

Fuentes-Morales was represented by attorney Allen Burnside, and Ceja-Rangel, by attorneys Aimee Zmroczek and John Delgado. Government prosecutors were J.D. Rowell and Kelly Wilson Hall. Judge Michelle Childs presided.

Zmroczek said, “We were proud to see the system worked, and we look forward to our next day in court.”

This story was originally published May 8, 2015 at 6:47 PM with the headline "FBI Mexican drug related kidnapping trial ends in SC hung jury."