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Columbus Drug Smuggling Case Goes To Jury

The fate of a former New Mexico school superintendent accused of leaking information about a gun-smuggling ring linked to the Juarez Cartel is in the hands of a jury.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that an eight-woman, four-man jury began deliberations Thursday in the case involving Danny Burnett.

He faces federal charges that he leaked information about a wiretap investigation into a gun-smuggling ring in the border town of Columbus.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Spitzer told the jury that there was plenty of evidence that pointed a finger at Burnett as the source of the information.

But Burnett's attorney, Jacquelyn Robins, says one of the prosecutors' key witnesses was a corrupt police chief who was on the cartel's payroll and had much to gain by lying.

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