Thread: L.A. deputy's kin fight border battle for murdered officer

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_2789893

L.A. deputy's kin fight border battle

By Felisa Cardona
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com

Los Angeles - An illegal Mexican immigrant who allegedly gunned down Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy David March three years ago is still on the run.

The man who police say executed March was a convicted felon who had been deported three times before the shooting, despite a law that allows the imprisonment of convicts who return to the U.S. after being deported.

The anger of the deputy's family over the fact that his alleged killer was in the country turned them into activists for change.

They want to guarantee that the man who killed their son - and any other criminals who flee south - can be brought to swift justice if they are ever caught in Mexico, as Raul Garcia-Gomez, accused of killing a Denver police detective, was last week.

"We wanted to make David's life count and change the extradition laws and change the laws at the border," March's mother, Barbara, said.

Members of the March family say the kin of slain Denver Detective Donald "Donnie" Young face a mindnumbing process in trying to get Garcia-Gomez returned to the U.S. for trial.

"They are going to go through hell," John March said.

In March's case, the suspect, Armando Garcia, is a convicted felon, authorities say.

Barbara and John March blame the U.S. Attorney's Office for not enforcing the immigration laws that could have put him in prison.

Authorities handling both of the cases could find themselves watering down charges or guaranteeing that the alleged killers would get a chance for parole in order to get their suspects tried in American courts.

Los Angeles County prosecutor Jan Maurizi, assigned to March's case, said the current treaty between the two countries allows Mexico to refuse to extradite if the person is facing the death penalty.

But since 2001, when the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that a life sentence without parole was cruel and unusual punishment, Mexican authorities have also in some cases refused to extradite suspects who may face life in prison, Maurizi said.

"They add different wrinkles and requirements, and there is no consistency," she said of the Mexican policy.

For the past five years, Maurizi has met with Mexican authorities and American legislators to try to change the law, but her efforts have led to dead ends.

She credited Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., for his work on trying to draft legislation to renegotiate the treaty.

"The Mexican solution is to say to us, 'Just change your laws,"' she said. "It's kind of frustrating that our government would not fight this issue."

Since her son's death, Barbara March lives her life with a pained look on her face, even when she is smiling.

"It's an ache that you learn to live with," she said. "It's a life sentence for us. Maybe in Mexico, they think it's cruel and unusual punishment, but every day is a struggle for us to get through."

They were on Lou Dobbs a few days ago. Good article.