Considering Running to Mexico? Smart Idea if Life in Prison Looks Good Jim Schutze - Dallas Observer
go to original April 13, 2016

Before escaping to Mexico, teach yourself useful Spanish phrases, for example: "Una pizza, por favor." (Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office)

After conversations with some of the city’s top criminal attorneys and having invested a decent amount of time in reading stuff on the Internet, I have rendered myself qualified, in my own opinion, to offer the following non-legal and inexpert advice: Persons accused of capital crimes in the US who may be thinking of skedaddling south of the border, or north, should weigh the following factors carefully:

Upside: It’s a good way to escape getting executed.

Downside: It’s a good way to guarantee getting convicted.

Two key concepts are at work. The first is extradition: Mexico, Canada and most other countries that do not support the death penalty won’t extradite to a country that does have the death penalty unless the receiving country agrees to take death off the table for the person to be sent back. So if you are that person and you flee, you’ve got a whole country as a free law firm jaw-boning the U.S. to promise not to kill you or they won’t extradite.

If you agree at some point to be extradited, then Mexico or Canada may lose its leverage to make the U.S promise not to execute you. Even if you don’t agree and Mexico or Canada does make the U.S. promise, there have been cases in which defendants got back here and American authorities said all of a sudden they found new capital charges to bring that were not covered by the international agreement.

Sure, you can say that’s cheating. But, remember most murder is a state crime, so you will have to make your no-fair argument in a US court. You better make sure you’ve got your international deal in writing. In English. Don’t show up in a US court with some document written in Canadian.

Read the rest at Dallas Observer

Related: Judge Gives ‘Affluenza’ Teen 2 Years in Jail; Taxpayers Footed Rehab Bill (The Washington Times)

Related: US Dentist's Murderer Suspect to be Extradited from Mexico in 2-3 Months, Official Says (Fox News Latino)

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