New York (AFP) – The lawyer defending deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is a veteran trial attorney who previously represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Barry Pollack, 61, appeared beside Maduro during his arraignment in a New York courtroom on Monday on drug trafficking and other charges. Maduro pleaded not guilty, and it will be up to Pollack to try to convince a federal jury to render that verdict when the case eventually goes to trial. The next hearing has been set for March 17.
A graduate of Georgetown University law school, Pollack is a partner in Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler LLP, a boutique New York law firm, and a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Law firm research guide Chambers USA describes him as a “thorough and deep-thinking lawyer” who “lives, breathes and sleeps trials, and has such a natural way in front of juries.”
In 2024, Pollack secured the release of Assange from a British prison after negotiating a plea deal with the US Justice Department that saw the Australian plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act by unlawfully disclosing national defense material. In another high-profile case, Pollack obtained the acquittal of a former Enron accountant who was facing criminal fraud charges stemming from the collapse of the energy giant.
Another prominent case involved a New York man who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his parents when he was a teenager and spent 17 years in prison. Pollack managed to get the charges dismissed and secured his freedom. Pollack gave a hint of his defense strategy during Monday’s brief arraignment of Maduro before District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, questioning the “legality of his abduction” by the US military.
© 2024 AFP
