MIAMI, March 23 (UPI) -- A convicted Cuban spy is asking a federal court in Miami to throw out his life prison sentence, court records indicate.
Gerardo Hernandez, 45, argues that his original defense attorney provided him with "ineffective assistance," The Miami Herald reported Wednesday.
Hernandez and four other Cubans were convicted in connection with the 1966 shooting down of two exile planes over the Florida Straits by Cuba that killed four Miami men.
The five defendants were charged for their participation in an intelligence network sent from Havana to spy on South Florida's exile community and military installations.
They infiltrated an exile group that regularly flew missions to rescue Cubans trying to leave the island.
In his petition, Hernandez said his attorney should have attempted to sever his case from that of the other defendants.
He also claimed his attorney used the wrong defense at trial by contending the shoot-down occurred lawfully within Cuban territory.
