A Mexican judge has found Brenda Martin guilty of Internet fraud and sentenced her to five years in prison, but the Canadian government is seeking to bring her home "as soon as possible."
Sources told Â鶹´«Ã½ the Prime Minister's Office is directly involved in the prisoner transfer process, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally ensuring it's carried out swiftly over the next few weeks.
Martin, who has been under a suicide watch, collapsed after hearing the verdict.
"This is awful. It's probably going to kill her," Martin's mother, Marjorie Bletcher, told Â鶹´«Ã½ from her home in Trenton, Ont.
"I just have to pray that she's going to be okay, because I mean, this has got to be devastating for her, to know that you're innocent and to get this verdict. I mean, this is crazy.
"I guess we didn't pay -- so Mexico's going to make her pay."
Bletcher said her daughter is in such a fragile state that she's afraid Tuesday's verdict will "take her over the edge."
Along with the five-year prison sentence, Martin was fined 35,800 pesos, equivalent to about C$3,680.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said the Canadian government is ready to take Martin back to Canada after a prisoner transfer agreement comes into effect.
"The prime minister has made it very clear he wants everything done possible to get Brenda Martin home," he told CTV's Mike Duffy Live from New Orleans.
"We're ready to move very quickly on this prisoner transfer and to get her home as soon as possible."
Martin has been held in custody since February 2006 and had to remain in jail while the legal process played out. The Mexican justice system places the onus on the accused to prove his or her innocence -- rather than on the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused.
Martin has been convicted of knowingly accepting illicit funds from an Internet fraud scheme operated by Alyn Waage. Martin had been Waage's chef until she was fired.
Waage, in prison in the U.S., had issued an affidavit in support of Martin, who has long professed her innocence.
Martin's lawyer told Â鶹´«Ã½net that he still has to read the judge's ruling before he can fully determine what led to the guilty verdict.
"According to the Mexican system, the judge only reads the final points of his resolution. He made a huge documented argument, which I am going to read when we get a copy of that," Guillermo Cruz said in a phone interview from Mexico.
Cruz also told Newsnet that "I am her lawyer, I have not found any evidence (of her guilt)."
Martin may return home within weeks
Despite the verdict, Martin could still return to Canada within the next few weeks, because of a special extradition agreement between Canada and Mexico.
The two countries have reached a deal that would bypass the standard extradition document, which would require six to nine months before transferring a prisoner.
She would also likely be freed from prison after her first parole hearing, because Canadians officials would credit her for the two years she has already served in Mexico.
"In Canada, you can get double credit for time served, so that would mean she has already served four years and four months if she gets the double-time clause," reported CTV's Lisa LaFlamme from Guadalajara.
She also said Martin signed the prisoner transfer document Tuesday, but must remain inside the prison for five business days -- the mandatory time for an appeal -- before the document takes effect.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is currently in New Orleans for a tri-lateral summit with U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, raised her case with his Mexican counterpart Monday.
Calderon said while he felt sympathetic towards Martin he couldn't intervene in his country's justice system.
Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said Martin's legal team should take full advantage of the summit to press her case.
"If ever there was a beautiful time to have a public press conference with the treaty transfer papers ready to be delivered, this is it," he told Â鶹´«Ã½net.
