http://www.newsobserver.com/141/story/423289.html

Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical as lawyers for two foreigners convicted of violent crimes in the United States argued that police had violated the men's rights.
Lawyers for the two men -- one from Honduras, the other from Mexico -- told the court Wednesday that police should have told them they could seek legal help from their countries' governments, as required by a 1969 treaty.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy asked why police -- and not the men's attorneys -- should be required to inform foreign suspects of their treaty rights.

"If a Miranda warning is given, it seems to me that comprehends the relief you need," Kennedy said, referring to the standard police practice of telling suspects they have the right to remain silent and the right to consult an attorney.

Presumably, a defense attorney knows or should know that foreign suspects have the right to contact their consulate, Kennedy and other justices said.

If a defense lawyer does not inform a client of those rights, that could be the basis for a claim of ineffective representation -- not a violation of the treaty, Justice Stephen Breyer said.

But Mark Stancil, a lawyer representing Mario Bustillo, a Honduran convicted of killing a Virginia teen with a baseball bat, said a defense lawyer might have a conflict of interest.

"The first words out of the mouth of the consulate [official] could be, 'Fire this guy and get a new lawyer,' " Stancil said.

The 1969 Vienna Convention requires "competent authorities" to tell a consulate when a foreign national is arrested and to allow the consulate to communicate with the detained person and advise the suspect "without delay" of his or her rights.

U.S. citizens have the same rights if they are arrested in one of the 168 countries that signed the treaty.

The court was asked whether failure to advise a foreign suspect of the Vienna Convention rights can be used to overturn a conviction. The court's decision, expected before July, could affect the appeals of thousands of foreign citizens in U.S. prisons and jails.

Police in the United States do not routinely tell arrested foreign nationals they can call their consulate. Some legal experts say requiring them do so could amount to expansion of so-called Miranda rights.

The cases are Bustillo v. Johnson, 05-51, and Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon, 04-10566.