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Massachusetts: An Ecuadorean man, Luis Guaman, has been convicted of premeditated murder in the bludgeoning deaths of a Massachusetts mother and her two year old daughter.[1] The murders took place in February 2011 in Massachusetts. A three-judge panel in Ecuador convicted Guaman, and they will sentence him to between 16 and 25 years in prison. Prosecutors in Massachusetts had sought to extradite Guaman to the United States, but Ecuador's new constitution bans the extradition of its citizens. Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz called the Ecuador trial "a sham." United States Senator Scott Brown was also involved in a 14-month negotiation with Ecuador in which the United States demanded Ecuador use an existing extradition treaty between the two countries to turn Guaman over. When Ecuadorean officials refused to extradite Guaman, Cruz refused to provide evidence in the case. Cruz says, "quite honestly, I don't know what they're using as evidence." The husband and father of the victims, Manuel Caguana, testified from Ecuador's consulate in Massachusetts.[2]
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