Florida Pastor Goes on Trial in Miami Over 2021 Assassination of Haiti's President

Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a 67-year-old Florida pastor and dual Haitian-American citizen, went on trial on Monday, September 28, 2026, in U.S. District Court in Miami for his alleged role in orchestrating the July 7, 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was shot dead in his bedroom when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, mostly Colombian, stormed his home near Port-au-Prince. Sanon faces eight charges, including conspiracy to kidnap or kill a person outside the United States, has pleaded not guilty, and could face life in prison if convicted, according to findings carried by The Boston Globe and Reuters via WTVB. Prosecutors say the plot was largely organized and financed in South Florida, with mercenaries paid using money diverted from U.S. government COVID-19 pandemic relief programs. Haiti has not had a president since the killing, and the trial opens as the country prepares for its first presidential election in a decade, scheduled for December 2026.

What happened

Sanon's trial began Monday before a federal jury in Miami, more than five years after Moïse was killed and his wife, Martine Moïse, was wounded in the attack on the presidential residence. U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones said Moïse was "assassinated by individuals seeking to profit from illicit financial opportunities and business contracts."

Prosecutors allege the conspiracy took shape in April 2021, when Sanon met in South Florida with a former Haitian senator and several U.S. businessmen, agreeing that once in power Sanon would award contracts to Florida-based Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and CTU Security. By June 2021, according to the prosecution's account, conspirators had concluded that Sanon lacked the qualifications and support to be president and instead backed former Haitian Superior Court judge Wendelle Coq Thélot, who died in January 2025 while a fugitive.

Sanon's lawyers acknowledge that he had presidential ambitions but deny that he knew of any plan to kill Moïse, and they are expected to argue that co-conspirators sidelined him. Several defendants already convicted in the case have pointed to Sanon as one of the ringleaders. Sanon was arrested by Haitian authorities days after the killing, with police reporting that boxes of ammunition and 19 passports were found in his home, and he was transferred to U.S. custody in early 2023.

The Miami proceedings are part of a much wider U.S. prosecution effort. More than 40 people have been charged by U.S. prosecutors in connection with the assassination, a dozen have been convicted, and five of those are serving life sentences. In August 2026, U.S. authorities charged 30 additional suspects and brought 18 defendants from Haitian custody to the United States. On Monday, former Haitian government official Joseph Badio and 17 others appeared in federal court in Miami; Badio is charged with conspiracy for allegedly posing as a U.S. drug agent during the killing.

Witness testimony is expected to include Martine Moïse, who earlier this year testified that she awoke to gunfire around 1 a.m. and heard her husband say, "Honey, we are dead." She testified that the 30 to 50 security officers assigned to the house were gone, and that she later learned they had been paid to leave their posts.

Why it matters

The trial is the most prominent proceeding yet in the U.S. effort to account for an assassination that left Haiti without a head of state and contributed to a collapse into gang violence. Prosecutions moved to the United States because proceedings in Haiti "continue to face significant difficulties," according to Haiti's Ministry of Justice and Public Security: judges repeatedly resigned fearing for their lives, and gangs seized the downtown Port-au-Prince courthouse. Per the United Nations, more than 3,000 people were killed in Haiti by June of this year, and about 1.5 million have been displaced in recent years. The case also touches on U.S. soil directly, since prosecutors say the plot was organized and financed in South Florida and funded in part with diverted American pandemic relief money. With Haiti's first presidential election in a decade set for December 2026, the outcome of the trial and the wider prosecutions will shape how much accountability is achieved before Haitians go to the polls, though gang violence and corruption have already cast doubt on whether a credible vote is possible.

How it is being covered

According to ground.news, 18 outlets are carrying the story, with a left/centre/right split of 44/50/6 percent, and 15 of 16 rated sources show high or very high factuality. The outlet mix skews toward left-leaning and centric publications, and the 6 percent right-wing share marks a blindspot, with right-leaning outlets largely not covering the trial.

What to watch

Watch for Martine Moïse's testimony, which could be the trial's most consequential moment given her account that the president's own security detail was paid to abandon their posts. Watch also whether Sanon's defense succeeds in portraying him as a sidelined figurehead rather than a ringleader, a question that will test the credibility of co-conspirator testimony from defendants who have already been convicted. Beyond the courtroom, watch the December 2026 Haitian presidential election, the first in a decade, and whether the August 2026 wave of new charges, including the 18 defendants who appeared in Miami on Monday alongside Joseph Badio, produces further convictions or plea deals that name additional figures in the plot.

By the numbers

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