Mexico judge sentences teenage assassin to 3 years – Yahoo! News

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FILE – In this Dec. 3, 2010 file photo, Mexican soldiers present Edgar ‘El Ponchis’ …
FILE – In this Dec. 3, 2010 file photo, a journalist interviews Edgar ‘El Ponchis’ …MIACATLAN, Mexico (AP) — A Mexican judge on Tuesday sentenced a teenage U.S. citizen to three years in prison for homicide, kidnapping and drug and weapons possession. Authorities say the teen confessed to killing four people whose beheaded bodies were found suspended from a bridge.
Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as ‘El Ponchis,’ was given the maximum sentenced allowed for a minor in the central state of Morelos, said state prosecutor Jose Manuel Serrano Falmerol. Jimenez was tried in a state court because Mexico does not have a justice system to try minors at the federal level.
Mexican prosecutors said Jimenez was 14 years old.
Authorities say the teenager confessed to working for the South Pacific drug cartel, led by reputed drug lord Hector Beltran Leyva.
When he was handed over to federal prosecutors, the boy calmly said in front of cameras that he participated in four killings while drugged and under threat.