Trial date set for Nicolás Maduro and his wife

[00:00:00]Well, the trial for ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife has now been scheduled for next June.

[00:00:06]>> judge set the start date after a brief 13-minute hearing in New York City earlier today. Maduro, the 63-year-old former head of state, and his 69-year-old wife, Celia Flores, have pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges. You remember back in January, US forces captured the couple in a middle-of-the-night operation in Venezuela.

[00:00:28]>> Let's bring in NBC News legal analyst Danny Cevallos and NBC News correspondent Sam Brock, who's outside of federal court in lower Manhattan.

[00:00:36]Sam, I'll start with you. What exactly happened in that brief court appearance today?

[00:00:41]>> Sure, Kate and Christine. This was as low-key as the initial arraignment back in January was dramatic in the sense that both sides came in today and talked about scheduling and specifically when the trial would start. Judge Hellerstein said it would be June 1st of 2027. So, that's 10 months from now, but guys, with a huge caveat, which is that there're going to be oral arguments now scheduled for November 17th, so in about 4 months to hear motions from the defense, specifically around things regarding jurisdiction. In the words of Barry that's the lead attorney for Nicolas Maduro. What does that mean?

[00:01:15]Does the United States, they're going to argue, even have the right to prosecute Maduro because, A, they're going to argue, this is Mr. that he has sovereign immunity as a head of state from a foreign country, and also potentially the legality of invading or conducting a military operation in another country and extracting its leader and bringing it into the United States judicial system. Barry and Maduro's team of attorneys are going to be arguing whether or not that is even legal to begin with. Those conversations happen in 4 months. Then you have another round about discovery.

[00:01:44]What kind of evidence can actually be admitted and what expert witnesses will be allowed to speak. But guys, the first big obstacle is coming up here in 4 months on November 17th. Back to you.

[00:01:54]>> Danny, let's bring you in on this question of jurisdiction. How do you expect that will play out?

[00:02:00]>> Yeah, Sam's great reporting really puts it out there perfectly. They're going to attack on two fronts. How he got here and who he is. How he got here is the way he was arrested. You see images there of him being seized. He was seized in his own country and brought here.

[00:02:14]That's probably going to be a losing argument. For a century now, the courts have said that however you get somebody in another country and bring them here.

[00:02:22]Once they set foot here in the United States, we can exert the courts can exert jurisdiction over that person. The second prong is who he is. Whether or not he has immunity as a foreign head of state. And this may sound like a pretty good argument, but unfortunately for the defendant, who determines whether someone is a head of state is the same executive branch that is trying him. The DOJ is trying him, but it's the Secretary of State that has the final say on whether or not a head of state is in fact a recognized head of state.

[00:02:57]>> All right, Danny Cevallos, Sam Brock, so much We're just at the beginning of this, too. Thank you so much.

[00:03:03]>> We thank you for watching. And remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.