A Florida federal judge sentenced former Haitian Senator Joseph Joel John on Tuesday to life in prison. Joseph was previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
Federal Judge Jose Martinez handed down the judgement at a hearing in Miami, Florida. He sentenced John to the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The hearing lasted only thirty minutes.
In his plea agreement, John admitted to three criminal conspiracy charges, including: conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a conspiracy to kidnap or kill outside the US, resulting in death; providing material support and resources to a conspiracy to kidnap or kill outside the US, resulting in death; and conspiracy to kill or kidnap a person outside the US. In doing so, John admitted to conspiring with co-conspirators—including Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, James Solages, Christian Sanon, among others—to forcibly remove or assassinate Moïse. These meetings began in April 2021 and continued through July 7, 2021.
On July 7, 2021, Moïse was killed in his private home in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. The plot was orchestrated by John’s co-conspirators in both Haiti and Florida. John originally signed a plea agreement with US federal prosecutors, promising to cooperate with the investigation. Two months later he was extradited from Jamaica and charged with conspiring to commit murder or kidnapping.
Joseph was a well known opponent of the political party of Moïse. Moïse had ruled Haiti by decree since January 2020. He had wanted to change the 1987 constitution and hold a referendum, while his opponents deemed this a way of strengthening his own power. Following his assassination, violent crime and political unrest escalated. Recently the UN authorized the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to help quell the violence, which is largely led by the more than 200 gangs in Haiti.
John is the third of 11 suspects to be charged and sentenced in Miami. Haitian-Chilean businessman Rodolphe Jaar and retired Colombian army officer Germán Alejandro Rivera García were also sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the conspiracy.
