Judge dismisses Mariachi inmate case

CONROE, Texas, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- A judge has tossed the drug possession case against a Mexican mariachi after the man was incarcerated in Texas for more than three months without a trial.

The Houston Chronicle reported Saturday senior U.S. District Judge David Hittner dismissed the case against Alejandro Raul Martinez-Ramirez, saying his Sixth Amendment right to a prompt trial was not honored during his incarceration in Montgomery County, Texas.

Martinez-Ramirez, a strolling musician who plays traditional Mexican music, and five other people, allegedly were found in possession of 77 pounds of marijuana with the intent to deliver.

Hittner estimated Martinez-Ramirez spent 110 days in federal detention without a trial. The judge found he was due a trial date within 70 days of being incarcerated. Martinez-Ramirez had been indicted in 2004 in connection with an alleged plan to sell more than a ton of marijuana.

Hittner did rule that prosecutors can re-file charges against Martinez-Ramirez because his extended incarceration was not conducted out of malice.

"It's in the government's hands. I have no idea what they'll do at this point," Martinez-Ramirez's attorney, Wendell Odom, told the Chronicle of the possibility of new charges.