Rigoberto Valle testified recently in San Francisco court that he was told that he must sell crack or face death by gun or knife. The jury didn't buy the Honduran immigrant's "sell crack or die" defense, convicting him. Soon he'll be sentenced, and probably deported.
Now a jury has rejected the somewhat similar, arguably less compelling case of Jorge Jimenez. The 27-year-old former laborer from Mexico, arrested twice for dealing crack and deported at least once, was caught again in January dealing crack to an undercover SFPD officer. His defense? He had to do it, or the man who provided him with drugs might kill him.