Millionaire Murder Convict: Pablo Escobar Framed Me

Kris Maharaj will have chance to demonstrate his innocence
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 12, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

After 27 years in prison, Krishna "Kris" Maharaj may finally get a chance to prove what he's been claiming for years: that he was framed for a pair of murders actually ordered by infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. CNN has a profile on Maharaj's case detailing how, in 1986, he was arrested for the Miami murders of his business partners Derrick and Duane Moo Young—even though he had an alibi. Police said the Moo Youngs had cheated the former millionaire out of $400,000. He was found guilty and sentenced to death.

That sentence has since been reduced to life in prison, but in April a Florida judge scheduled a November hearing to determine if new evidence could undermine the verdict. Maharaj's lawyers have 53 witnesses and 498 documents on tap, according to the Guardian. "We've got several Colombian cartel people to say, 'We did the murders,'" one lawyer says. These cartel witnesses say that the Moo Youngs were money launderers for the cartel, and were killed because they lost some of the money. The lawyers also say they can prove that prosecutors hid evidence that would have proved Maharaj's innocence. But in court filings, prosecutors say the evidence is all "hearsay and inadmissible." (Click to read about how Escobar's hippos are causing problems in Colombia.)

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