Authorities put her behind bars over allegations she tried to smuggle 12 pounds of marijuana under a bus seat.
She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. Yanira Maldonado allegedly was sitting above the illegal stash.
Maldonado’s case sparked widespread media coverage and attention from U.S. lawmakers as family members pushed for her freedom. At a press conference early Friday in Nogales, Arizona, she thanked journalists, crediting them for her expedited release.
The quality of her conditions in jail also improved as the media coverage increased, she told CNN affiliate KPNX-TV in Phoenix.
A court official delivered the good news to her in jail Thursday. “I screamed,” Maldonado said.
The Arizonan and mother of seven had consistently denied the charges against her, and the court determined that the prosecutors did not provide evidence.
Her husband, Gary, tearfully embraced his wife after her release.
Though the court released her back to the United States, legal proceedings are not completely over, Gary Maldonado said. But his wife’s attorney in Mexico will take care of them in her absence.
Security camera footage revealed in court Thursday shows Maldonado and her husband boarding a bus in Mexico last week. They are carrying a purse, two blankets and two bottles of water.
It’s an everyday scene that plays out at bus stations around the world. But in this case, defense attorney Francisco Benitez argued that the images were a crucial piece of evidence.
Why? Because nothing they’re carrying, he said, could hold the amount of marijuana that Maldonado was accused of smuggling.
Video footage suggests that someone else brought the marijuana aboard the bus, the lawyer said.
Her attorneys also presented documents that show that she andher husband have no criminal records in the United States, Benitez said.
Word that the surveillance video had been shown in court was a big relief, her husband said.
“That was the key that would help us prove her innocence,” he said.
“It showed right on the film clear as day there’s no way you could carry 12 pounds or 5.7 kilos with one arm,” he said.
The Mexican military officials who arrested Maldonado didn’t make their case in court. The soldiers were scheduled to appear Wednesday but didn’t show.Packages of the illegal substance allegedly recovered from under Maldonado’s seat would not have fit in her purse, Benitez said.