4A Monday, November 5, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
NATION
Town mourns 3 Girl Scouts, 1 adult killed in crash
STEVE KINDERMAN I Associated Press
Emergency medical personnel gather at the scene of a hit-and-run
accident Saturday, Nov. 3, in Lake Hallie, Wis., that killed two girls and
an adult.
Associated Press
LAKE HALLIE, Wis. — A
western Wisconsin community on
Sunday was grieving the deaths of
three Girl Scouts and an adult who
were collecting trash along a rural
highway when police say a pickup
truck veered off the road and hit
them before speeding away.
Authorities have not released
the names of the girls or the
woman who were struck by the
truck on Saturday in Lake Hallie,
including the name of a fourth girl
who survived but was in critical
condition at a hospital in Roch
ester, Minnesota. The girls were
members of Troop 3055 and were
fourth-grade students at Halmstad
Elementary School in adjoining
Chippewa Falls, which is about
90 miles (145 kilometers) east of
Minneapolis.
“Our hearts are broken for the
girls and families of the Girl Scouts
of the Northwestern Great Lakes,”
CEO Sylvia Acevedo of Girl Scouts
of the USA said in a statement Sun
day. “The Girl Scout Movement
everywhere stands with our sister
Girl Scouts in Wisconsin to grieve
and comfort one another in the
wake of this terrible tragedy.”
Lake Hallie police Sgt. Daniel
Sokup said the pickup, a black
Ford F-150, crossed a lane and
veered into a roadside ditch, strik
ing the victims. Other members
of the troop were picking up trash
from the opposite shoulder.
The 21-year-old driver, Colten
Treu of Chippewa Falls, sped off
but later surrendered and will be
charged with four counts of homi
cide, Sokup said. It was unclear
Sunday if Treu had an attorney
who could speak for him. Police
misspelled Treu’s first name as
“Colton” in initial news releases.
Sokup said it was not immedi
ately known if there were other
factors that might have led the
driver to leave the road. The Min
neapolis Star Tribune reported
that the crash happened before a
hill and there were no blind spots,
and Sokup said it was “not an
unsafe area.”
But Cecily Spallees, a personal
care attendant at a group home
near the crash site, told the news
paper that drivers regularly speed
on that stretch of road, which
quickly changes from a 55-mph to
a 35-mph zone.
“I’m always telling one of my
residents that he shouldn’t walk
this strip at night,” Spallees said.
“It’s not safe.”
Troop 3055’s regional council,
the Girl Scouts of the Northwestern
Great Lakes, expressed its condo
lences on Facebook and said a vigil
will be held Sunday evening at the
girls’ school.
Reputation precedes ‘El Chapo’ as US trial approaches
BY TOM HAYS
Associated Press
NEW YORK — He is
accused of having a hand
in dozens of murders, of
using his drug cartel to
smuggle more than 200 tons
of cocaine into the United
States, even pulling off run
ning the massive operation
from behind bars. That’s
when he wasn’t busy escap
ing from jail — twice.
The almost-mythical
criminal pedigree of Mexi
can drug lord Joaquin “El
Chapo” Guzman, who was
extradited in 2017 to face U.S.
drug conspiracy charges,
has sparked security con
cerns at his upcoming New
York City trial that at times
have drawn as much atten
tion as the case’s sensational
allegations.
A look at those concerns
for a trial that is starting
Monday with jury selection.
Opening statements are
likely Nov. 13.
WITNESSES IN THE
CROSSHAIRS
Prosecutors say Guzman
was in the habit of ordering
the killings of anyone who
got in his way during his hey
day in Mexico as boss of the
Sinaloa cartel.
In his way now is a lineup
of government witnesses
who survived the wave of
violence and are expected
to give details about the ruth
less way he kept power for 20
years in the cutthroat world
of international drug traffick
ing. The defense says the wit
nesses are the true bad guys
whose testimony shouldn’t be
trusted.
The names of the witnesses
have been blacked out on
court documents with prose
cutors saying their identities
need to be protected because
their cooperation could put
them in the crosshairs of a
vengeful cartel. According to
court papers, some are being
held in special jail units for
their protection, while oth
ers are in witness protection
programs.
The list of people who
could turn up on the witness
stand is long. Two standout
possibilities are twin brothers
Pedro and Margarito Flores,
former Chicago-based nar
cotics wholesalers who did
business with Guzman before
their arrest in 2008. They
agreed to cooperate and
record phone conversations
with Guzman about the size
of shipments smuggled on
boats and airplanes.
In one, a voice identified
as Guzman’s asks, “How
much can you get rid of in a
month?”
The now imprisoned
brothers paid a steep price
for flipping: Prosecutors say
in 2009 their father was mur
dered in Mexico by a cartel
hit team.
FORTIFYING THE
COURTHOUSE
At pretrial hearings lead
ing to the trial, heavily
armed federal officers and
bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled
outside. Anyone trying to
attend the hearings was put
through airport-style metal
detectors at the courthouse
entrance and at the door of
the courtroom itself.
The judge also agreed with
prosecutors that the jury
for the case should be kept
anonymous, a measure typi
cal in terrorism or mob cases
where jury intimidation is a
concern.
No one’s hiding the omi
nous nature of the case from
potential jurors. Questions
for them on an initial screen
ing form ask if they’ve ever
heard of “El Chapo” along
with, “Have you, or has
anyone close to you, ever
felt fearful of or threatened
by people who you thought
were associated with drug
crimes?”
Jurors also will be escorted
to and from the courthouse
by federal officers and
sequestered from the public
while inside. As a reason,
the judge cited prosecutors’
contention that Guzman’s
cartel “employs ‘sicarios,’
or hit men, who carried out
hundreds of acts of violence,
including murders, assaults
and kidnappings.”
KEEPING AN EYE ON EL
CHAPO
U.S. LAW ENFORCEMENT I Associated Press
In this Jan. 19, 2017, file photo provided by U.S. law enforcement, authorities escort Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, center,
from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. Guzman’s trial is set to
begin Monday, Nov. 5, with jury selection. Opening statements are expected on Nov. 13.
After Guzman was brought
to New York, authorities
here decided he should be
housed in solitary confine
ment in a high-security wing
of a federal jail in Manhattan
that has held notorious ter
rorists and mobsters.
Central to that calculation
was Guzman’s history of giv
ing directions to his lieuten
ants from Mexican jails and
credentials as a two-time
escapee there. The second
time was via a mile-long (1.6
kilometer-long) tunnel dug to
the shower in his cell.
The logistical problem
for his keepers: The case is
being prosecuted across the
East River in federal court in
Brooklyn.
For pre-trial hearings,
authorities opted to trans
port him to and from jail by
shutting down the Brook
lyn Bridge to make way for
a police motorcade that
included a SWAT team and
an ambulance, all tracked by
helicopters.
The judge indicated he
thinks the time and expense
involved would add up to a
logistical nightmare — and
an inconvenience for New
Yorkers who rely on the
bridge to commute — for a
trial expected to last as long
as four months. He said there
would be adjustments, but
didn’t elaborate.
There’s now speculation
that a special cell for Guz
man has been set up in the
bowels of the courthouse
where he will spend the night
after his days in court.
But no one is saying. For
security reasons, of course.
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