Costa Rica Lawyer Gets Prison for Slipping Cocaine to Client

A Costa Rican lawyer caught handing a pack of cocaine to an imprisoned client during a penitentiary visit has himself been sentenced to 10 years behind bars, prosecutors said Friday.

The convicted attorney, Willy Ruiz Gonzalez, was ordered into preventive detention for six months pending his possible appeal.

According to prosecutors from Costa Rica's unit fighting organized crime, Ruiz was discovered during a July 10 visit to a San Jose penitentiary handing over a packet containing 98.5 grams of cocaine to an inmate he had defended.

According to the newspaper La Nacion, in 1996 Ruiz was sentenced to prison for belonging to a gang that stole cars.

Upon release, he studied law and became the head of the law students' association on the campus of the University of Costa Rica.