Key Witness Against Noriega Sentenced to Time Served

MIAMI —  A key prosecution witness whose testimony helped convict former Panamanian leader Gen. Manuel A. Noriega of drug charges was sentenced to time served Thursday after his lawyer dropped a threat to withdraw his guilty plea.

Former Lt. Col. Luis del Cid, 48, has been in U.S. custody since the December, 1989, invasion of Panama, which led to Noriega’s capture. He will be released from jail and enter the federal witness protection program, possibly within weeks. He was placed on three years’ probation.

In December, 1990, Del Cid, a longtime Noriega bodyguard and self-described “errand boy” for the dictator, pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy and agreed to testify.

He did, in September, 1991, telling jurors that between 1981 and 1985 he often carried packets of cash to Noriega from pilot Floyd Carlton Caceres. Carlton was the star prosecution witness in the seven-month trial, which ended last April with Noriega’s conviction on eight counts of racketeering and drug smuggling.

Noriega is scheduled to be sentenced today. He faces a maximum of 120 years in prison, and prosecutors have asked Judge William M. Hoeveler to hand the deposed strongman a term measured “not in years but decades.”

Del Cid’s sentencing drew a flurry of attention after the Associated Press reported that his attorney, Samuel Burstyn, had accused prosecutors of soliciting “false testimony” from his client over whether or not Del Cid knew what he carried to Noriega was drug money. That report prompted Noriega’s attorney, Frank A. Rubino, to talk about seeking a new trial for the general.

But on Thursday, Burstyn said his threat to withdraw his client’s guilty plea was based solely on the government’s failure to keep its end of a plea-bargain deal with Del Cid. At issue was the government’s failure to win release of some $100,000 in Del Cid’s Panama bank account, and to provide residency visas for Del Cid and his family.

Burstyn said he has not accused the government of inducing perjury but only of “reneging on promises.” Hoeveler said he will monitor the government’s compliance with the agreement.