it was broadcast and was told that the cartel wanted Seal either captured or killed: the price was $500,000 if Seal was killed, and $1,000,000 if he was captured alive. Mermelstein testified that he accepted the contract, believing that a refusal would mean death. He received a phone call from Fabio Ochoa and Escobar, who both thanked him for his help, and was given $100,000 for any costs he incurred. Before Mermelstein had located Seal, however, he was arrested by a federal task force in June 1985. He soon told the task force about the contract, and Seal was informed that the cartel was offering $500,000 for his death. Killing On the evening of February 19, 1986, Seal was shot to death in front of the Salvation Army Center, three weeks into his probation. When Seal pulled into the center's lot and parked, a man got out of a car behind the center's donation drop boxes and opened fire with a suppressed MAC-10 submachine gun. Seal was hit six times and died almost instantly. Six Colombians were quickly arrested in connection with the murder. Three of them, Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz, Miguel Vélez, and Bernardo Antonio Vásquez, were indicted on state charges for capital murder. A fourth man was indicted separately on lesser charges, and evidence of direct involvement was insufficient for two, who were released and deported. In addition to the state charges against the killers, federal charges were filed against Fabio Ochoa, Pablo Escobar, and a third cartel member, Rafael Cardona, for conspiring to violate Seal's civil rights by murdering him. Trial Widespread publicity and the general public outcry caused a delay of several months before Seal's murder trial began. It proved impossible to impanel sufficient jurors in Baton Rouge, so the venue was moved to Lake Charles. The trial began in April 1987. The most important witnesses were Max Mermelstein and Luis Carlos Uribe-Munera. Mermelstein, who had told the DEA of the murder contract after his arrest in 1985, testified that Ochoa, Escobar, and Cardona had asked him to take the contract and provided him with money and weapons to do the job. He had seen Cardona test-fire the murder weapon in Mermelstein's garage and bullets that matched the murder weapon were later extracted from the garage wall by FBI forensics. Mermelstein also knew the defendant Vélez. He testified that Vélez was present when he was given the