In a case that made international headlines, an Arizona mother who was held in a Mexican jail on suspicion of smuggling marijuana was released late Thursday night and her charges were dismissed.
Yanira Maldonado, a 42-year-old mother of 7 from Goodyear, Arizona, was returning from Mexico with her husband when soldiers said they found 12 pounds of marijana under her bus seat. The Mormon mother of seven children repeatedly said she was innocent, and she and her husband said they had been framed by soldiers seeking a bribe.
After a judge reviewed security footage which showed she and her husband only boarded the bus with a few items which were visible on the footage, she was let go and her case was dismissed.
Outside the jail, Maldonado said she was thankful to God, as well as to the press and attorney Jose Benitez Paz.
RELATED: Mom of 7 jailed in Mexico: “I just want to go home”
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