Ryce suspect's defense tactic indefensible

Not only is Chavez innocent of the 1995 slaying, says defense attorney Art Koch, he's also a hero, a Cuban patriot.

In his explosive opening statement this week, Koch pinned the murder on another man, the son of Chavez's former employer. He told an Orlando jury his client was an innocent man, an anti-Castro militant who took part in bold, clandestine activities on the island.

He named the supposed dissident organization to which Chavez belonged: the ``Group for Action and Resistance.'' The aim of this group: ``. . . To bring down Fidel Castro and return freedom to the island of Cuba,'' Koch said.

Chavez was so committed to this cause of a free Cuba that he would be considered a marked man on the island, the lawyer suggested. Therefore Chavez would rather go to Death Row in this country than face the wrath of the Cuban government.

Considering the timbre of Koch's argument, one might think Chavez was no ordinary balsero  when he fled Cuba aboard a raft in 1991. In fact, one might think his name would ring familiar in the network of dissidents and independent journalists who labor on the island.

So I called someone who might know. Mercedes Moreno, director of Havana's Nueva Prensa agency, is considered to be a plugged-in independent journalist on the island. She regularly reports on the work of the resistance and taps into the sprawling network of human-rights advocates and dissidents.

``Never heard of him,'' was her flat response Friday.

And the organization Koch named?

``No, never heard of it, either.''

Moreno, 49, who has followed the Ryce case through The Herald, had expected Chavez to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. She never expected him to plead not guilty for reasons of patriotism, to drag the entire dissident movement into his defense.

``It's unheard of,'' she protested. ``The whole thing reeks of bad intention. I can tell you this: The dissident organizations I know have no psychopathic members.''

So even from across the Florida Straits, Koch's defense seems like a cheap offense, and makes no sense.

Pardon the corny verse, but Koch's far-reaching courtroom tactics stirred all kinds of rhyme in my head.

I guess the patriot story must have smacked him as perfectly marketable. When in doubt, go the Cuba Libre route. After all, the Cuba card works for politicians, right?

But the uproar sparked by Wednesday's statements should give Koch a clue that the patriot line isn't going to work. Even Moreno, in Havana, wondered, ``Maybe it's the lawyer who should plead insanity.''

Not only was it reprehensible for the defense attorney to try to make an ideological hero out of his client, it was stupid. It was a flimsy argument that fell apart the minute Koch said the former handyman would ``rather die in America for a crime he has not committed than return to Cuba.'' If you follow Koch's logic, his client would rather die than maybe  die.

It's unlikely Chavez, even if found not guilty, would be deported. Chances are they'd find some way to keep him locked up on immigration hold, because he's not a citizen. In any case, he's not going home any time soon. Any lawyer so supposedly well versed on Cuba should know that.

But Koch seems more intent on hyping the hypothetical. Next, we may hear him beseech the jury: ``If the fatigues fit, you must acquit.''

You can e-mail Liz at lbalmaseda@herald.com

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