 |
| ABOUT US | PRACTICE GROUPS | LOCATIONS | CONTACTS |
|
Friday, 03/03/06 Extraditions in boy's death may take years Mexico usually won't hand over suspects if death penalty possible By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF Staff Writer It could take years for a mother and her former boyfriend to be extradited from Mexico to face trial in the 2003 slaying of a 4-year-old Nashville boy, legal experts said this week. If the two choose to put up a fight, prosecutors here say they are prepared for a lengthy series of appeals in Mexican courts. Martha Patlan, 31, and her former boyfriend, Genero Espinosa Dorantes, 35, are jailed in Mexico on charges of killing Patlan's son, Luis Cisneros. Luis' burned and battered body was found in a west Nashville park on Feb. 23, 2003. Patlan and Dorantes fled to Mexico before authorities could question them about the death. Dorantes had been on the FBI Top Ten Fugitive list. Both suspects are Mexican citizens, and the Mexican government typically will not extradite citizens of that country if they face a possible death penalty abroad. "Obviously, it's frustrating," said Davidson County Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman. "A guy comes from Mexico, commits a crime here, and goes back to Mexico, and we can't get him back. Obviously, it's very difficult to get them back." In the days before Luis' body was discovered, Patlan and Dorantes had visited her relatives in Nashville to ask for money to take the boy to the hospital, police have said. The boy appeared weak and in shock, the relative told investigators. But facing a language barrier, investigators delayed going to the couple's apartment until the next day. By then, the apartment had been abandoned. Last month, authorities received a tip about Patlan's whereabouts in Mexico. She was taken into custody on Feb. 20 and helped investigators locate Dorantes, who was arrested in Tijuana. Convincing the Mexican government to extradite Patlan and Dorantes will require a promise that they won't be subject to the death penalty, said Douglas McNabb, a Washington-based lawyer whose firm specializes in international extradition defense. "Because Tennessee can seek the death penalty and Mexico can't seek one, Mexico is going to want to get written assurances that the U.S. will not seek the death penalty," he said. "That's going to be a big issue." Thurman, the local prosecutor, acknowledged that during a news conference this week but declined yesterday to specify what the government's plans are for bringing Dorantes and Patlan back to the U.S. He said it could be months or even years before his office and the U.S. Justice Department file formal extradition petitions in the case. Another high-profile Nashville case illustrates the difficulty of bringing criminal suspects back across the Mexican border to face trials. Nashville serial rape suspect Ruben Hernandez Martinez was arrested in May 2002 by Mexican police in Rio Bravo, which is just across the Texas border. Martinez, who was also on the FBI Top Ten Fugitive list, still is being held in a Mexican jail after being arrested in connection with a series of rapes committed in the areas of Hickory Hollow, Edmondson Pike and McMurray Drive in 1997 and 1998. In November, Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that the government could extradite suspects to the United States as long as they would not face the death penalty. | |