Americans Lawyer for Haiti quits
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Lawyer for Americans held in Haiti quits
A Haitian attorney representing 10 Americans charged with kidnapping for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti told CNN Sunday he has resigned. Edwin Coq said he had quit as a lawyer for the Americans. It wasn’t immediately clear who would replace him.
“I know that they have been looking at other lawyers,” said Phyllis Allison, mother of one of those detained, Jim Allen. “They don’t know what to do.”
The 10 missionaries, including group leader Laura Silsby, were charged Thursday with kidnapping children and criminal association. Coq had said that court hearings would be held Monday and Tuesday for his clients, who have been split up at two prisons.
He has tried to get the Americans released, though he has also blamed Silsby for the missionaries’ legal troubles.
Conviction on the kidnapping charge would carry a maximum penalty of life in prison; the criminal association charge would carry a penalty of three to nine years, according to a former justice minister.
