Suspect in Yassine case pleads guilty

AUSTIN (KXAN) - One of the people arrested in the March 22 raids on four Downtown Austin nightclubs reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and will be sentenced next year, the man's lawyer said Monday.

Nizar Hakiki, who was originally charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, distributing cocaine and transferring a firearm knowing it is to be used in a drug trafficking crime, was to have gon on trial starting Tuesday. But attorney Larry Sauer said his client pleaded guilty only to the firearm charge and will not stand trial in the case.

Hakiki was among 10 people rounded up in a raid of Sixth Street nightclubs in late March in the culmination of an investigation that started in 2007 into businesses owned by owned by Yassine Enterprises.

In the fall, Mike Yassine and Hadi Yassine were convicted of drug and money-laundering charges. Their brother Steve Yassine was convicted in the same trial but later pleaded guilty to a federal drug charge and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

Sauer said he expects Hakiki to be sentenced in March.