Three Mexican nationals may learn later this week whether they'll be able to avoid a trip to the gallows in a country which shows no mercy for drug dealers. Their last hearing on Sept. 28 resulted in a delay until Nov. 25.
The accused are brothers Jose Regino Gonzalez Villarreal, 33, Simon Gonzalez Villarreal, 36, and Luis Alfonso Gonzalez Villarreal, 43, all from the western state of Sinaloa on Mexico's Pacific coast. Together with two Malaysians, they were charged in 2008 with manufacturing and possessing methamphetamine and precursor chemicals (used to cook the meth), and with narcotics trafficking. They have been in custody for over three years.
According to prosecutors, the Mexicans and the two Asians were arrested at a factory with a large quantity of drugs and cash. If they are convicted, the only punishment under Malaysia's draconian drug laws is execution by hanging.
Defense attorneys have challenged forensic test results of the chemicals which were seized when the men were detained, and have also alleged that a third of the materials disappeared while in police custody, preventing the court's analysis of all the evidence.
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