Thread: Court to hear Honduran, Mexican killers' appeals

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/11/07/scotus.foreign.ap/

Court to hear Honduran, Mexican killers' appeals
Supects say they weren't told they could call consulates

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday jumped back into the issue of the rights of foreigners in criminal cases, agreeing to consider the appeal of two men from Honduras and Mexico.

Mario Bustillo of Honduras was convicted of killing a Virginia teen with a baseball bat, but was never told of his right to seek legal help from the Honduran consulate. His new lawyers are trying to win another trial.

Moises Sanchez-Llamas of Mexico was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for wounding a Medford, Oregon, police officer in a 1999 gunfight.

Sanchez-Llamas claims his pretrial statements to police shouldn't have been allowed as evidence in his case because he wasn't told of his right to contact the Mexican consulate.

Under the Vienna Convention, foreigners arrested in the United States are to be told they have a right to get help from their home country. Americans are entitled to the same rights in other countries that signed the treaty.

Earlier this year, justices considered another case involving a Mexican national on death row in Texas, but dismissed the case without a ruling after President Bush ordered a new state court hearing for the man.

Bustillo is serving a 30-year prison sentence in the 1997 slaying of 18-year-old James Merry outside a Popeyes Restaurant in Springfield, Virginia.

Bustillo's lawyers say that witnesses mistook their client for another Honduran man who committed the crime. The government of Honduras is willing to track down the man, who returned home after the killing, the attorneys said.

"It's hard to imagine a case where the denial of consular assistance could be more prejudicial," justices were told by Jeffrey Lamken, one of Bustillo's lawyers.

Under the Vienna Convention, foreigners arrested in the United States are to be told they have a right to get help from their home country.

This is exactly why police should be "required" to ask about the immigration status of suspects instead of these sanctuary policies.

http://today.reuters.com

Supreme court to decide foreign suspects' consul rights
Mon Nov 7, 2005 12:35 PM ET



By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide whether U.S. courts can enforce the rights of foreigners to contact their consulate when they are accused of a crime in this country.

In cases from Oregon and Virginia, the justices also said they would decide whether failure to notify foreign nationals of their rights under the Vienna Convention must result in the suppression of their statements to the police.

Under the convention, which the United States ratified in 1969, U.S. officials must tell foreign nationals of their right to contact their consulates after their arrest and must notify the consulate of the arrest. Americans are entitled to the same rights in other countries that signed the treaty.

The Supreme Court returned to an issue it last considered during its 2004-05 term that ended in June.

The high court in May dismissed the case of a Mexican on death row after President George W. Bush said the defendant and 50 other inmates should get new hearings because they weren't told of their right to talk to Mexican officials.

The high court declined to decide the merits of the dispute involving Jose Medellin, who is on death row in Texas. He was denied the right to meet a consular officer from Mexico after his arrest for murder.

On February 28, Bush decided to comply with a World Court decision and said state courts should review the 51 cases to determine whether the violation of their rights caused them any harm at trial or at sentencing.

In the cases from Virginia and Oregon, the justices will decide whether the convention conveyed individual rights of consular notification and access that U.S. courts can enforce. State courts had ruled against the foreign nationals in both criminal cases.

The Oregon case involved Moises Sanchez-Llamas, a Mexican national who was arrested in 1999 after he shot at police and wounded an officer.

After his arrest, the police told him in English and Spanish of his right to remain silent and to have an attorney present, but he was not told that he could communicate with the Mexican consulate. The consulate also was not told of his arrest.

He was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 20 1/2 years in prison. The Oregon Supreme Court upheld his conviction and concluded the Vienna Convention does not create rights that individual foreign nationals may assert in a criminal proceeding.

In the Virginia case, Mario Bustillo is serving a 30-year prison sentence for the 1997 murder of 18-year-old James Merry outside a Popeye's fast-food restaurant. Bustillo, a Honduran national, was never told of his right to seek legal help from the Honduran consulate.

His attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court. They asked the justices to decide whether state courts may refuse to consider violations of the treaty because of procedural problems or because the treaty does not create individually enforceable rights.

The high court most likely will hear arguments in the cases in March or April, with a decision expected by the end of June.