Maximum penalty ‘is death,’ judge tells shackled Santiago

Esteban Santiago, handcuffed, shackled and wearing a red, maximum-security jumpsuit, spoke in a monotone Monday as he answered questions from a judge in court and was told he may face the death penalty.

Santiago, 26, is accused of killing five people and wounding six others at Fort Lauderdale’s airport. He was flanked by nine deputy U.S. marshals as he answered questions from U.S. Magistrate Alicia Valle.

“The maximum penalty, if you were to be convicted, is death — it is a capital offense,” Valle told him. She also explained he could face life in federal prison.

Santiago, who stared down at the defense table for much of the hearing, said he understood the seriousness of the charges he is facing. Santiago was slightly hunched over and took deep breaths, as if he was trying to calm himself.

Santiago said nothing about his alleged motive or why he came to South Florida. The Iraq war veteran also said nothing, in court, about his documented history of mental health problems.

Agents said he reported having terroristic thoughts, be-

lieved the government was controlling his mind and pushing him to watch Islamic State propaganda.

Santiago, who wore jail flipflops with no socks and has tattoos on both forearms, answered the judge’s questions. He told her he has no assets and only about five or 10 dollars in his bank account.

Santiago told the judge that he had not worked since November when he left his job as a security guard in Anchorage, Alaska. He said he had been earning about $2,100 dollars monthly during the past three years.

Prior to that, Santiago said he was in the Army “um, around 10 years,” earning about $15,000 per year by the end of his stint.

After the hearing, Santiago was quickly returned to the Broward Main Jail, where he is being held on federal allegations he fatally shot people, as well as firearm and airport violence charges.

Santiago is on suicide watch, partly because of the gravity of the allegations against him, according to the Sheriff ’s Office. He is being kept in solitary confinement in the medical unit on the third floor, jail records show. Inmates on suicide watch are checked much more frequently than other prisoners.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ricardo Del Toro said prosecutors wanted Santiago detained without bond while the case is pending.

After ruling that Santiago did not have enough money to hire private counsel, the judge appointed Assistant Federal Public Defender Robert Berube to represent him. Berube and Santiago spoke briefly during the hearing, whispering as they huddled next to each other.

Berube said he had just met his client in court for the first time.

“There is a time and place to make a comment, this is not it,” he told the Sun Sentinel.

Security was much tighter than usual inside the courtroom and around the courthouse on Monday. There were metal barricades at the entrance to the courthouse and armed federal agents and explosives-detecting dogs patrolled the perimeter of the building.

The marshals surrounded Santiago in court and several others guarded the rear of the courtroom for the 30-minute hearing. More than 60 reporters, from all over the world, crowded into the courtroom for the hearing and dozens more, with video cameras, lined the sidewalk outside.

Airport security video shows Santiago pulling a semi-automatic handgun from his waistband and shooting at people in the baggage carousel area in Terminal 2.

Santiago confessed shortly after the Friday afternoon shooting, according to the FBI and Broward Sheriff ’s Office. He told investigators that he planned the attack and bought a one-way ticket to Fort Lauderdale to carry it out, according to court records.

Agents said he legally checked a 9mm Walther semi-automatic and two magazines of ammunition — but no clothes or other belongings — for a Delta Airlines flight from Alaska via Minnesota.

After picking up his bag from the baggage carousel, he told investigators he unpacked the gun, loaded it inside a stall in the men’s restroom, and shot the first people he saw after he walked out of the restroom.

The judge ordered that Santiago will remain jailed until a Jan. 17 detention hearing. Santiago has not yet been formally charged but an arraignment, when he would announce whether he plans to fight the allegations against him, is scheduled for Jan. 23.