Miami Trial Resumes in Jovenel Moïse Assassination Case

Five years after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, dozens of people arrested in connection with the killing remain in custody in Miami awaiting trial, with the next case set to go before a jury.

Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Florida pastor and dual Haitian-American citizen whom authorities say aspired to lead Haiti, was scheduled to stand trial on Monday. He faces eight charges tied to the assassination, including conspiring to kidnap or kill a person outside the United States, and has pleaded not guilty.

U.S. prosecutors have charged more than 40 people in connection with the killing, and a dozen have been convicted, including five who are serving life sentences. Federal authorities say South Florida served as a central hub for planning and financing the plot to remove Moïse and install a replacement of the conspirators' choosing.

Moïse was shot dead on July 7, 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, most of them Colombian, stormed his home near Port-au-Prince. His wife, Martine, was wounded in the attack. Court records indicate the scheme involved paying the mercenaries with funds drawn from U.S. government programs meant to help businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to an indictment, the plan took shape in April 2021 when Sanon met in South Florida with a former Haitian senator and several U.S. businessmen. The group agreed that once in power, Sanon would award contracts to two Florida-based firms, the Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security, known collectively as CTU, for infrastructure projects, security forces and military equipment. CTU initially hired about 18 Colombians with military training to protect Sanon, prosecutors say, while conspirators spent months acquiring weapons and body armor and trying to build ties with Haitian gangs.

By June 2021, the conspirators concluded that Sanon lacked both the constitutional qualifications and the popular support to become president, and shifted their backing to Wendelle Coq Thélot, a former Haitian Superior Court judge. She died in January 2025 while still a fugitive.

Martine Moïse recounted the attack earlier this year while testifying at the trial of four men later convicted in the conspiracy. She said she went to bed around 10 p.m. and woke about three hours later to gunfire. Turning to her husband beside her, she recalled him saying, "Honey, we are dead." She crawled downstairs to check on their two adult children, then returned to the bedroom, where the couple lay on the floor on either side of the bed for protection. Men eventually burst in and opened fire with what sounded like an automatic weapon, striking her several times. She heard Spanish being spoken before someone shot her husband multiple times. After the attackers left, she said she expected to find the bodies of the 30 to 50 security officers assigned to the house, but found none, later learning they had been paid to abandon their posts.

Sanon had been scheduled to be tried alongside the four men convicted earlier this year, but his case was separated and delayed for health reasons. Prosecutors say he helped raise money for the conspiracy and arranged travel to Haiti and lodging for himself and others.

The latest defendants charged include Joseph Badio, a former employee of Haiti's Ministry of Justice, and 17 others described as Colombian mercenaries. They were recently transferred to the United States from Haiti.

Haiti has not had a president since the killing. In 2025, Haitian justice officials sought help from the U.S. and Canada after a local appeals court ordered a new investigation — the third inquiry since Moïse was shot 12 times at his private residence. Previous investigations stalled as judges repeatedly resigned out of fear for their safety, and gangs seized control of the downtown Port-au-Prince courthouse where suspects were being questioned. The country's Ministry of Justice and Public Security has said proceedings in Haiti "continue to face significant difficulties."

The Caribbean nation, the poorest in the Americas, has been overwhelmed by gang violence. More than 3,000 people were killed this year by June, and about 1.5 million have been displaced in recent years, according to the United Nations. Its history of dictatorship, political upheaval and foreign intervention has long hindered the consolidation of democratic rule.