Javier Valdez was an award-winning journalist and Agence France-Presse contributor (File)
Mexico City:
A second man accused of murdering Mexican journalist Javier Valdez, an AFP contributor, was convicted on Tuesday, the prosecutor s office announced.
Juan Francisco Picos Berrueta, known as El Quillo, was found guilty as a material co-perpetrator in the murder , the prosecution said in a statement.
He will be sentenced at a later date and faces up to 50 years in prison as he refused to plead guilty in exchange for a shorter term. He was tried as the main perpetrator in Valdez assassination.
Valdez, who was a co-founder of the Riodoce weekly newspaper and a prominent chronicler of Mexico s deadly drug war, was shot dead four years ago in Culiacan, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa.
La Jornada - Defensa de asesino desiste de presentar testigos en caso Javier Valdez
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Desvelan busto del periodista Javier Valdez, asesinado hace 4 años
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Damaso Lopez Nunez, 55, testified against Joaquin El Chapo Guzman at trial
A former prison director, he was Guzman s right-hand man
After Guzman s 2016 arrest, he battled Guzman s sons for control of the cartel
Known as El Licenciado , for having a degree, he was sentenced to life in 2018
Lopez Nunez was arrested in Mexico City in May 2017 and extradited to U.S.
He had been cooperating with authorities in return for a reduced sentence
On Wednesday it was reported he would be freed decades early, in 2032
The news came three days after Guzman s wife was detained by U.S. authorities
At Guzman s trial he testified she was deeply involved in Guzman s trafficking