Mexico to Extradite More Suspects to U.S.

MEXICO CITY —  Mexico’s Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to allow the extradition of criminal suspects who face life sentences abroad, clearing the way for thousands of alleged killers and drug traffickers to stand trial in the United States.

The court’s 6-5 vote ends four years of wrangling between the U.S. and Mexican governments over murder suspects who have been protected by Mexico’s ban on life sentences.

U.S. lawmakers this fall threatened to cut off millions of dollars in aid to Mexico unless it turned over suspects in a number of high-profile cases, including the fatal shootings of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy and a Denver police detective.

Since 1978, Mexico has barred the extradition of its citizens accused of crimes that carry the death penalty. The Mexican Supreme Court extended the extradition ban in October 2001 to Mexicans facing life in prison, a penalty the court said violated the country’s constitution as a cruel and unusual punishment.

Since then, U.S. law enforcement officials have complained that scores of Mexicans who committed crimes in the U.S. escaped justice by crossing the border and going home. In some cases, U.S. prosecutors have agreed to pursue reduced criminal charges, with lighter sentences, to persuade Mexican authorities to hand over suspects.

“We estimate there are 3,000 individuals who committed murders in the United States, several hundred in Los Angeles County, and fled to Mexico,” said Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley.

The ruling “is going to have a major impact, especially on the border states, but also as far north as Washington state,” he said. “This means murderers who fled our country can be extradited and face the appropriate penalties. This is a big deal.”

The court’s reversal began in September during a review of a proposed law in the state of Chihuahua creating consecutive sentences for kidnapping and murder.

Mexican lawmakers hoped the stiffer sentences -- which could stretch to more than 100 years -- would stem the homicide epidemic in Ciudad Juarez and other border cities.

A court majority approved the law Sept. 6. Justice Juan Diaz Romero said the ruling did not explicitly allow life sentences, but it amounted to the same thing and thus opened the door to changes in extradition policy.

Justices deliberated on the issue Tuesday, and after a three-hour discussion were deadlocked.

“I understand the underlying problem is the extradition of criminals to the United States,” Justice Genaro David Gongora Pimentel said. But he voted against extradition because of his continuing opposition to life sentences.

In the afternoon, Supreme Court President Mariano Azuela Guitron was asked to break the tie, and he voted in favor of allowing the extraditions.

“As long as there’s no decision on this issue, there’s legal insecurity. The moment a decision is made, we return to legal security,” he said, according to a transcript of the deliberations.

Teri March, widow of slain Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy David March, called the decision “some of the best news I’ve heard in the last 3 1/2 years.

“It’s a step in the right direction for our family, and for other families who find themselves in this situation -- where killers flee to Mexico and avoid punishment.”

Her husband had pulled over Jorge “Armando” Arroyo Garcia in Irwindale during a routine traffic stop in April 2002. A minute later, authorities allege, Garcia fatally shot March with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol.

Garcia was in the United States illegally and had been convicted of dealing drugs. He was wanted by Baldwin Park police on suspicion of attempted murder when he was stopped by March. Garcia had told friends that he would shoot the first cop who stopped him.

Teri March was among a growing number of Americans who have been lobbying the U.S. and Mexican governments to remove the roadblocks to extradition.

This month, Congress approved legislation denying some foreign aid to countries that block extraditions. March’s slaying was mentioned during debate this summer.

“Let’s be clear,” Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) told colleagues on the House floor, “the Mexican government is harboring a cop killer.”

Prosecutors in Colorado had been negotiating for months with Mexican officials for the extradition of Raul Gomez-Garcia, a Mexican suspected of fatally shooting Denver police Det. Donald Young in May.

They reached an agreement on Thanksgiving, with prosecutors reducing the charge to second-degree murder -- which would not carry a sentence of life in prison -- in exchange for Gomez-Garcia returning to stand trial. It was unclear whether Tuesday’s ruling would affect the case.

The ruling also means that some of Mexico’s biggest drug traffickers are now vulnerable to extradition, including Osiel Cardenas, the imprisoned head of the so-called Gulf cartel, as well as his ally Benjamin Arellano Felix, who has led the Tijuana cartel. Prosecutors also are seeking Jose de Jesus Amezcua, known as the king of amphetamines, and Miguel Angel Caro Quintero of the Sonora cartel.

Mexico had made some exceptions to its extradition ban.

In June, authorities returned Ricardo Rodriguez, who had fled to Mexico after he allegedly fired an assault rifle at two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during a chase last year. He faces a maximum prison term of two life sentences.

And Mexican law allowed U.S. prosecutors to present cases -- translated into Spanish -- for prosecutors in Mexico to pursue. But those were expensive and difficult trials. Until the Supreme Court’s ruling, the maximum sentence was 60 years.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday that he believed the Mexican people would applaud the court’s decision.

“They do not appreciate the Supreme Court harboring murderers in their midst,” Baca said. “It’s a win for the Mexican people. It’s a win for the American people.”

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Enriquez reported from Mexico City and Blankstein from Los Angeles. Researchers Carlos Martinez and Cecilia Sanchez in The Times’ Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.