Oral trial today is Baja California's first...February 1

New oral trials make a debut in Baja California

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/05/mexican-state...

By Sandra Dibble
February 5, 2011

MEXICALI — A 43-year-old laborer accused of stealing a vehicle last August had his day in open court Friday, ushering in a new era for criminal justice in Baja California as states across Mexico undergo a major overhaul of their judicial systems.

The hearing marked the first U.S.-style oral trial in Baja California as the state moves toward open court hearings where prosecutors and defense attorneys present their cases before a panel of judges. It’s a marked departure from Mexico’s longstanding inquisitorial approach, where judges dominated the proceedings and based their decision-making mostly on written documents.

Critics said Mexicans have long distrusted the traditional court system, which they described as inefficient, opaque and prone to corruption.

Friday’s trial in Mexicali brought together the suspect, the victim and several witnesses who testified before a three-judge panel in Baja California Superior Court. The case is scheduled to continue Monday.

“This at first seemed unbelievable and impossible,” said María Elena Andrade Ramírez, a deputy state attorney general who observed the proceedings from her front-row seat.

The revamped trials are part of a package of reforms adopted in 2008 that also put a greater emphasis on the rights of the accused, the professionalizing of police forces and tougher measures against organized crime, according to a report by the University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute.

The legislation requires states across Mexico to make the transition to U.S.-style oral trials by 2016.

Initially, the new format will be used only for lesser crimes. Murders, kidnappings and rapes, for example, will continue to be tried under the old system for now, said Marcos Pérez Nuñez, administrator for the Baja California Superior Court.

Making the transition has involved years of preparation by judges, attorneys and investigators, who took trips abroad to learn about judicial processes in the United States and other countries. Training is continuing locally as well, through on-site courses offered jointly by the Autonomous University of Baja California and the University of San Diego, with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Andrade said the new process allows judges to interact directly with suspects and victims, rather than rely on written testimony. Under the traditional system, the judge “didn’t see the human side of the process,” she said. “He was always holed up inside his office. Here the judge is living it, guiding it. He can see if the witness is nervous or if his statement is firm.”

Andrade also said the new system has spurred her office to conduct a greater number of investigations that are more science-based and prompted the state to upgrade its capacity for forensics, which includes construction of a $4.2 million testing facility in Mexicali.

Though Mexicali is the first municipality in Baja California to adopt the oral trials, the others are not far behind. Ensenada is expected to follow suit in May, while Tijuana, Tecate and Rosarito Beach are scheduled to switch by mid-2012.

Under the traditional system, a judge had the authority to send suspects to prison while they were being investigated and tried — and the legal process could drag on for two or three years, Pérez said. Under the new system, suspects who are accused of minor crimes and have no prior criminal record are allowed to remain free if they regularly check in with authorities.

Originally scheduled for Tuesday, the trial had to be postponed when defendant Rigoberto Acevedo Rivera failed to show up. He was captured by Baja California police late Wednesday, and on Friday two armed officers stood by Acevedo’s chair.

A crowd of several dozen onlookers crammed into courtroom six of Baja California’s new Justice Building to witness the trial’s opening. Presiding was Judge Salvador marooones Pichardo, who gently instructed the suspect, victim and witnesses about their rights and obligations under the new procedures.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Acevedo sat with his three public defenders. The first witness was Armando Pulido, an elementary schoolteacher who said he watched as his wife’s maroon 1995 Ford Windstar van was driven away one Sunday morning while the couple set up their stand at a swap meet.

“The truck, someone’s taking the truck,” he recalled telling his wife. A police patrol car was nearby, and within minutes it caught up with the fleeing vehicle. Authorities said the vehicle’s lock had been broken, and that Acevedo was at the wheel.

The prosecutor said the case was clear-cut. The victim, a “simple housewife” and hard-working mother of three, was robbed of her van shortly before 7 a.m. Aug. 15 in the community of Benito Juarez.

Acevedo has maintained his innocence. From the opening statement of his defense team, it appeared they would focus on the fact that nobody actually saw him steal the vehicle.

Late Friday, after nine hours in the courtroom, the judges were unanimous in their ruling that Acevedo was guilty. His sentencing is scheduled for Monday.

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Photo: Judge Salvador marooones Pichardo, center was the presiding member of a three-judge panel Friday in a Mexicali courtroom as Baja California that heard the case of an accused car thief. Credit: PJBC via SDUT-SOSD

[Edited on 2-6-2011 by BajaNews]

Seriously?

Yeah...I know, but I don't think they would get away with using those emotion jarring words in a US court. I'm betting the judge already had the guilty papers signed and sealed before the "trial" even started.
We'll know they've arrived when Mexico has a chapter of the ACLU and the Ninth District Court Of Appeals.