Former boxer Félix Verdejo Sánchez, sentenced to two consecutive life terms in a federal prison for the killing of pregnant young woman Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz, filed a motion on his own behalf with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, again questioning federal jurisdiction over his case and criticizing his attorney. The 14-page motion, dated October 2, is titled "Emergency Opposition to Defense Counsel’s Motion to Remand the Case to the District Court and Cross-Motion for Mandatory Sua Sponte Verification of Subject Matter Jurisdiction."
Verdejo opposes his lawyer, Michael R. Hasse, who weeks earlier asked that the case file be returned to the federal District Court for Puerto Rico to address problems with the trial transcript. Instead, Verdejo asked the First Circuit to first examine whether federal authorities had jurisdiction. To support his argument, he cited testimony from the federal prosecution’s star witness, his admitted accomplice Luis Cádiz Martínez, who said he was to pick up the victim and kill her as soon as she left her vehicle and entered the pickup truck.
Verdejo argued: "The Government’s witness testified that he was to pick up the victim and kill her as soon as she got out of her vehicle and entered the truck. It was purely local conduct that occurred in Puerto Rico." He also insisted that his attorney has been ineffective and has refused to present his argument to the court.
This is not his first attempt to intervene directly: in January 2025 he unsuccessfully filed several pro se motions seeking, among other things, dismissal of the indictment for alleged lack of federal jurisdiction.