Mexico's Senate yesterday approved a measure which directs this country's Foreign Ministry to investigate and report on Mexicans facing the death penalty in American courts. The Senate wants to know how many are on death row, for what crimes and the status of each condemned prisoner's case.
The upper legislative chamber adopted the proposal at the instance of Labor Party senator David Monreal Ávila, who expressed concern about violations of civil rights in death penalty cases involving Mexican nationals in the United States.
Mexico has no death penalty, and will not extradite prisoners wanted on international warrants in capital cases unless the soliciting nation agrees to waive such punishment. That has happened in some cases involving drug cartel defendants. Los Zetas accused killer makes his first appearance in D.C. federal court.
Almost a decade ago the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ordered the United States to review about 50 cases of Mexicans then under sentence of death in American courts, to determine if legal guarantees and protections had been complied with during their trials. But the ruling was largely ceremonial, since the U.S. government generally lacks authority to compel state courts - where most death sentences are imposed - to reopen sometimes decades old criminal litigation.
In the ICJ cases American officials were criticized for their frequent failure to notify Mexican consular authorities when citizens of that country were arrested, especially on capital charges. International law as well as diplomatic treaties between the United States and Mexico require such notification.
In January Mexico's Supreme Judicial Court ordered the release of a French national who had been imprisoned for over seven years on kidnapping and organized crime charges. A major reason for the ruling was Mexican prosecutors' failure to notify French diplomats for several days after the defendant was detained. Mexico's Supreme Court orders Florence Cassez freed. The case created a firestorm of controversy in both nations. No justice for Mexicans in Florence Cassez ruling.
In contrast, most American tribunals, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have shown little sympathy for such technical arguments in death penalty cases. The latter has refused to interfere with state executions where failure to notify was the primary basis of a defendant's appeal [Federal Republic of Germany vs. United States, 526 U.S. 111 (1999)].
A Mexican human rights agency reported in 2011 that 58 of its citizens were on death row in the United States. The last Mexican executed in the U.S. was a man put to death by lethal injection in Texas on July 7, 2012. With dozens of separate prosecuting jurisdictions and hundreds of American trial and appellate courts, it may be challenging to determine exactly how many Mexican nationals are facing capital punishment today. With a little help from his friends, Jon Hammar released.
The death penalty has been abolished in 17 U.S. states, but remains lawful in the other 33.
Apr. 10 - A recent Amnesty International report states that Hispanic defendants are disproportionately sentenced to death in U.S. capital cases. According to the study, 31% of those executed by Texas in 2011 were Hispanic. That term is not synonymous with Mexican; it merely means a person whose origin is a Spanish speaking country. Mexican nationals who are under death sentence in American courts represent a significantly smaller group.
May 16, 2012 - Three Mexican brothers sentenced to die on rope for Malaysian drug crimes
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