Simón Trinidad, whose real name is Ricardo Palmera, is already serving a 60-year prison sentence on an unrelated hostage-taking charge, but the U.S. had hoped to convict him on cocaine charges as a symbolic drug war victory. He was the first member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, extradited to face trial in the U.S.After two month long trials, however, juries came back deadlocked on the cocaine charges. The Justice Department asked a federal judge to dismiss the case Tuesday. Such requests are routinely granted.
