ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 9, 1990                   TAG: 9006090139
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MIAMI                                LENGTH: Short

NORIEGA'S ARGUMENTS REJECTED

Manuel Noriega's legal defense suffered two setbacks Friday - a Miami federal judge rejected his challenges to U.S. jurisdiction, and in Tampa a codefendant agreed to testify against him.

In Miami, U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler dismissed defense motions that argued Noriega should be freed because the United States had no right to prosecute him on drug-trafficking charges.

The defense claimed Noriega, as a head of state, had immunity for his actions, and in any case couldn't be prosecuted for activities outside the United States.

The lone codefendant in Noriega's parallel Tampa drug indictment, Panamanian businessman Enrique A. "Kiki" Pretelt, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify that the general was his "silent partner" in a trafficking ring. - Associated Press 


 by CNB