Venezuela's ousted president Nicolas Maduro finds out US trial date

Nicolás Maduro will face trial on drug trafficking charges along with his wife on June 1, as his lawyers continue to object to the US military action that snatched the Venezuelan president from power and deposited him in New York. Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, have been held at a Brooklyn jail since US forces seized them from their home in Caracas during a middle-of-the-night raid and brought them to New York in early January.

Neither spoke during a 15-minute court hearing on Wednesday, where Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein set the trial date at the request of lawyers on both sides. The couple have both pleaded not guilty and could face life in prison if a jury finds they were part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the US.

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