Death row Brit , 81, ‘framed by Pablo Escobar’s hitmen’ fears he will be ‘executed by coronavirus’ in Miami jail
A BRIT millionaire jailed for a double murder in Miami fears he will be “executed” by coronavirus following a suspected outbreak in his prison. Krishna Maharaj, 81, was caged in 1987 for the killings of his two business associates in Florida – crimes hitmen for drug baron Pablo Escobar have claimed they carried out. The […]
A BRIT millionaire jailed for a double murder in Miami fears he will be “executed” by coronavirus following a suspected outbreak in his prison.
Krishna Maharaj, 81, was caged in 1987 for the killings of his two business associates in Florida – crimes hitmen for drug baron Pablo Escobar have claimed they carried out.
The wealthy food importer, who has always protested his innocence, has been locked in his cell after another inmate in his 40-man dorm was suspected of having Covid-19.
Last year, a judge in Florida ruled that Krishna had proved his innocence after he provided “clear and convincing evidence” and that “no reasonable juror could convict him”.
However, the original verdict for the 1986 double murder has still to be overturned and he remains in prison near Miami.
‘EXECUTED BY COVID-19’
His lawyer Clive Stafford Smith is demanding Krishna be temporarily released over fears he’ll be killed by the respiratory disease which has swept the world.
He said: “Rather than exonerate him, Florida now seeks to execute him by COVID-19.
“Is it too much to ask for compassion for a desperately ill 81-year-old victim of such injustice?”
Speaking with Sky News in February, Krishna – who was born in Trinidad and Tobago but has British citizenship – said his life was a living “hell” after repeated delays in securing his release.
As the first cases of Covid-19 were reported in the US, he said: “Now we have descended into the lowest regions of hell.”
‘FRAMED FOR MURDER’
His wife Marita, who lives near the prison, said: “It is a death camp. I have had nightmares for many years where Kris is executed by the state of Florida, first in the electric chair, then by lethal injection.
“Now I think they’re going to execute him in a new way, by killing him with coronavirus. I am desperate for him.”
His lawyers say they have received no reply from Florida governor Ron DeSantis after making a formal application that Krishna be furloughed with security in place.
A self-made millionaire, Krishna, has consistently denied being involved in the murder of his business partner Derrick Moo Young and Young’s son in a Miami hotel room in 1987.
Incredibly, members of Pablo Escobar’s cartel – including the drug lord’s own right-hand man – have since come forward to state he was framed.
And at the time, dozens of crooked cops, politicians and judges were on the payroll of Medellin gangsters who were flooding the city with cocaine.
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Awash with drug money, at one point 10 percent of all the Miami police force had to be fired due to corruption.
But his defence team unearthed SIX different witnesses who said Escobar’s gangsters killed the two men due to unpaid debts.
In 2017, the Brit contracted necrotizing fasciitis – a flesh-eating disease.
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