County Attorney Challenges Mexico's Policy

September 20th, 2007 @ 5:48pm
by KTAR Newsroom

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is calling on the government of Mexico to change its policy of not extraditing people back to the U.S. if they could possibly face the death penalty.

"The government of Mexico should not demand that of us. In my opinion, that is our law," he said. "If they have chosen to come here and violate our laws, they should be subject to all of our laws, that includes the death penalty in certain cases."

A suspect was arrested in Mexico in 2000 for the 1988 shooting death of Phoenix police officer Kenneth L. Collings. Mexico agreed to extradite the suspect only after Arizona prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. Collings was sentenced to life in prison in 2002.

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