Akasha son may be in for life in American prison

Confessed drug trafficker Baktash Akasha Abdalla (pictured) may be in for life in a US prison if the judge preparing his sentencing agrees to the latest Probation Department request. In a letter seeking the adjournment of his sentencing, Baktash’s lawyer termed the recommendation that he be handed life imprisonment as “extraordinary”.

Earlier on in December, Goltzer had written to the judge seeking an adjournment of the sentencing of the drug lord on the basis awaiting the Probation Department report.

The judges agreed and moved the sentencing to March 15. The probation report appears to have come as a shocker to the Attorney who, in the latest letter dated February 25 to Judge Victor Marrero asked for further adjournment to April 15.

“The Probation Department has recommended that Mr Abdalla be sentenced to life imprisonment, an extraordinary recommendation in light of the circumstances of this case,” he says in the letter. In pitching for one-month delay, Goltzer said he was still in the process of obtaining numerous mitigation documents to aid his client.

“Given that Mr Abdalla is facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison, counsel would like to be assured that every avenue of obtaining mitigation information and records has been thoroughly exhausted prior to sentencing,” the letter says.

The lawyer also informs the judge that the US government was assisting him in his efforts to get the records. In the earlier request, Goltzer had painted the picture of a family man in Baktash, whose “multiple wives, children, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles and his mother” needed to be considered.

In October, Baktash, alongside his younger brother Ibrahim pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and obstruction to justice charges.

The fate of Ibrahim is unknown as the letters did not address him and also because his matter is being handled by a different lawyer.

“Without a fulsome report on Ibrahim Akasha’s life and experiences, the court will not have an accurate picture of the ‘history and characteristics’ of the defendant,” Ibrahim’s lawyer Dawn Cardi had written to the judge last month while pitching for postponement of the March 15 sentencing.