Now that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is on U.S. soil, the criminal case against him is in motion.
Maduro pleaded not guilty to the four charges against him — narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy, and possession of and conspiracy to possess machine guns — during his initial court appearance in Manhattan, N.Y., on Monday.
His wife, Cilia Flores, who was also charged in the superseding indictment and captured alongside her husband by U.S. forces during an early morning raid in Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday, also pleaded not guilty.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on social media over the weekend that Maduro and Flores "will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts."
Now begins what could be a lengthy legal process of pretrial motions, potential plea negotiations and possibly a jury trial of the authoritarian leader who ruled Venezuela for more than a decade.
Shane Stansbury, who prosecuted the former president of Guatemala as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, said the case should mostly follow the typical path of any criminal case, with some notable exceptions. "It's just that things may take longer, given the nature of the case, the type of evidence involved, the security considerations and so forth," said Stansbury, who is now a professor at the Duke University School of Law.
Legal experts say those complications mean Maduro likely won't go to trial this year, even as the case against him moves forward. Here's what to watch for.
Maduro's head-of-state status will likely come up in court
One argument that Maduro's defense team may make is that he cannot be criminally charged for his actions as Venezuela's head of state, two former federal prosecutors who spoke to NPR say.
Court records list Washington, D.C.-based lawyer Barry Joel Pollack as Maduro's defense attorney. He did not immediately respond to NPR's request for a comment on the charges. Flores is being defended by Houston-based attorney Mark Donnelly, who told NPR that they "look forward to reviewing and challenging the evidence the government has" and that there is a "long road ahead."
The U.S. stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president in 2019 after he was reelected in a contest considered fraudulent by the U.S. and international observers. He had taken power in 2013 after the death of Venezuela's previous leader, Hugo Chávez. (The indictment alleges that Maduro began drug trafficking into the U.S. as early as 1999 and includes periods when he held other roles in Venezuela's government.)
Still, there is precedent for the U.S. government bringing the leader of another country to trial, including the early 1990s prosecution of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
In that case, a federal appeals court rejected Noriega's head-of-state immunity claim. But Adam Fels, a former assistant U.S. attorney who is now in private practice in Miami, said the issue could arise again.
"I imagine those challenges, while they have already been litigated before, will be litigated again," Fels said.
Other national leaders prosecuted by the Justice Department include former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo for money laundering and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted on drug trafficking charges and pardoned by President Trump last month.
During his court appearance on Monday, Maduro introduced himself as the president of Venezuela and a prisoner of war.
The Venezuelan leader's arrest could pose another legal question
Because Maduro was not extradited to the U.S. through a legal process, but rather seized by the U.S. military during a surprise incursion into Caracas, legal experts say this could give the defense team another avenue for a legal challenge.
Fels pointed to the recent case of Mexican cartel leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and how he ended up in the custody of the U.S. government.
Federal prosecutors say Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, forced Zambada onto a plane, drugged him and flew him across the border into the U.S., where he was handed over to law enforcement.
"There was a challenge because there was a concern about whether or not Mr. Zambada went to the United States on his own free will and accord," Fels said. "So I imagine that litigation will also at least be something that Judge [Alvin K.] Hellerstein, who is the judge in this case, will be considering." (Zambada pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges last year.)
But that may be a high bar for Maduro's attorneys to overcome. According to Stansbury, federal courts have "generally declined to interfere with the means of arrest."
Some evidence may be classified, which could cause delays
The complex case against Maduro may also mean that discovery, the legal process in which prosecutors and the defense team share evidence, could take longer than usual. Stansbury said some evidence may come from intelligence sources or be classified.
"The government may not want to use any classified information at trial, but that doesn't mean that the government doesn't have an obligation to turn over some classified material potentially if it's exculpatory or otherwise is discoverable under the federal rules," he said.
The Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) sets rules for how defendants can use classified evidence in court and can lengthen the pretrial process. CIPA rules also applied in Trump's classified documents case.
A plea deal is possible — but so is a trial
Though Maduro has pleaded not guilty, there is still time for federal prosecutors and the defense to reach a plea agreement.
Both legal experts who spoke to NPR noted that the two machine gun charges, which carry lengthy prison sentences, may push Maduro into at least considering a plea.
Otherwise, the case goes to trial. Fels, who was one of the lead federal prosecutors in the Justice Department's successful prosecution of El Chapo in 2019, said federal prosecutors would still have plenty of work to do to prepare their case for court, including potentially interviewing corroborating witnesses.
"There was a substantial amount of evidence in the Chapo case. I would like to think that there's substantial evidence in this case as well, given the efforts that were undertaken by the United States government to obtain and bring [Maduro] to justice," Fels said.
"The question is going to be: How do you put these allegations together and prove them with witnesses and documents in a way that will make sense to a jury?"
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