Editing Michael Townley (section)

==Legal Consequences and Witness Protection==
In 1978, Chile extradited Townley to the U.S. to reduce tensions over Letelier’s murder. On April 17, 1978, he struck a plea deal, pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and receiving a 10-year sentence, serving only 62 months. The deal granted immunity from further U.S. prosecution, preventing extradition to Argentina for the Prats case. Townley provided evidence against his Cuban accomplices, leading to convictions of Guillermo Novo, Ignacio Novo, and Alvin Ross Díaz in 1979, though Pinochet refused to extradite DINA officers Pedro Espinoza Bravo and Contreras. Released in 1983, Townley entered the U.S. Federal Witness Protection Program, where he remains, living under an assumed identity.

In 1993, an Italian court convicted Townley in absentia for the Leighton attempt, but his witness protection status shielded him from extradition. In 2003, Argentine Judge María Servini de Cubría sought Callejas’s extradition for the Prats murder, but Chile’s refusal halted proceedings. Townley’s 2005 testimony implicated DINA and Colonia Dignidad in Frei’s death, but no convictions followed.