Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Why all the hand-wringing about this woman?

Am I the only one who thinks she broke a lot of Mexican laws - and knew about them too?

It seems every politician is jumping on the band-wagon about this "poor" Canadian woman languishing in a Mexican jail - for playing a role in bilking a lot of people out of a lot of money.

-Canadian Brenda Martin will find out Tuesday if she's to stay in a Mexican jail, or be cleared of money laundering charges, the judge in her case told CBC News on Friday.

Martin appeared in court earlier this week to plead her case after 26 months in jail, and was hoping for a decision Friday.

(CBC) The 51-year-old Trenton, Ont. woman is accused of being part of a $60 million pyramid scheme run by Canadian Alyn Waage, who was convicted of fraud in 2006. He is serving a 10-year jail term in a U.S. prison.

Visibly weakened by her ordeal in prison, Martin told CBC's Latin America correspondent Connie Watson that she is getting extremely anxious and needs to know what will happen to her next.

"Right now I just want to get out of here. I just want out. I want my life," she said.

Burden of proof is on the accused in Mexico. The nature of Mexico's justice system, which does not include oral trials and puts the onus on the accused to prove his or her innocence rather than on the prosecution to prove guilt, means Martin must wait out her legal process in prison alongside both convicted criminals and others, like her, who have yet to be found guilty of any crime.

Martin's family and friends say imprisonment has taken its toll on Martin, leaving her depressed, heavily sedated and on 24-hour suicide watch in Puente Grande women's prison near Guadalajara.

If the judge rules her not guilty, Martin will be released from prison immediately, her Toronto lawyer Guillermo Cruz Rico told CBC News. If she is found guilty, she could be sentenced to between five and 15 years for the offences, he said.

Either way, Martin will likely return to Canada, since her friends have said she will file paperwork requesting a transfer to a Canadian jail rather than appeal a guilty verdict.

Her latest antics lead me to believe she is guilty. She portrays herself on Canadian media as bordering on the edge of a mental breakdown, deathly ill, tearfully complaining she will die soon or commit suicide if she dosen't get out of jail. Yet she shows up on mexican video this week being crowned Miss Mexican jailhouse queen, tierra, fancy dress, healthy, smiling and laughing obviously enjoying herself. Shes playing a game and the doogooders have sucked it all in.

I felt sorry for her when I first heard about her story. After seeing her mother on the news sobbing to the report "Please don't just let this be a photo op Mr. Harper, Mr. Kenny.", her mother came across like a puppet for the Lieberals to me. Apparently she has lied a few times about the contact that the Canadian Government has had with her and turned down a few meetings with them "Because they were not being nice to me."

If you do the crime do your time. I can't feel sorry for scammers that con people's life savings. Pyramid schemes are everywhere nowadays and scams aimed at pensioners also rank pretty low with me. They usually don't throw people in jail for no reason especially since many Canadian tourists holiday there.

Last time I checked Mexico was a different country. If you are going to do anything that is or maybe perceived as shady within or without your country of origin I say too bad so sad. There is no doubt that if she was working for that guy in Canada the RCMP would probably have asked her nicely to stop.
But she isn't in Canada.

if she was a man she would still be in Jail in Mexico.