33 years behind bars

In 1987 Lehder was extradited to Jacksonville, Florida, and kept in a holding cell watched by armed officers day and night. In 1988 he was sentenced to life without parole plus 135 years.

In 1992, in exchange for testifying against Manuel Noriega, his sentence was reduced to 55 years. In 1995 he wrote to a federal judge complaining that a promised transfer to a German prison never happened; the letter was read as a threat.

In 2005 he argued his own appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. In 2016 he asked President Barack Obama for clemency, to cut his 55 years to 48. It was denied.

In his last years he was held in a minimum-security prison in Florida, where family members visited him. Visits — not a life with them. Year after year, from age 37 to age 70.