DENNIS
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Oral trial today is Baja California's first...February 1
Oral trial today is Baja California's first
By Sandra Dibble
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 9:50 a.m.
A new courthouse in Mexicali will be the setting for Baja California's first oral trial, scheduled today.
A suspect accused of stealing a 1995 Ford Windstar is the defendant today in Baja California’s first oral trial. The proceedings are being held in
Mexicali before a three-judge panel in state superior court.
Baja California is joining a half-dozen Mexican states that have launched the oral trials, a cornerstone of the country’s efforts to reform its
judicial system.
Required by a 2008 constitutional amendment, the trials mark a sharp departure from Mexico’s tradition of written legal proceedings. The purpose is to
bring greater openness and expediency to a system long known for its inefficiency and corruption.
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, and by May 2012, Tijuana, Tecate and Rosarito Beach are scheduled to change over as well.
Martin Cota, a spokesman for the Baja California superior court, said that everyone from police officers to prosecutors to judges have been learning
the new system. Participating in their training is the University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute and the School of Law, through a program
funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“People have been really eager to receive this training,” said Octavio Rodriguez, coordinator of the university’s Justice in Mexico Project . “They
see that it’s fundamental.”
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wessongroup
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Thanks for the information... really big step..
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Bajahowodd
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A good first step, but as with any radical change, it's going to take quite a while before the kinks are worked out.
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sanquintinsince73
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Only bad thing is that the guy on trial did not show up and the whole thing had to be postponed.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bajahowodd
A good first step, but as with any radical change, it's going to take quite a while before the kinks are worked out. |
They're taking instructions from the wrong source. Many of the defendants have already seen the system work while they were in the states. America's
felons can be Mexico's lawyers. Seems appropriate.
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BajaNews
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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.
--
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]
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Woooosh
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| Quote: | Originally posted by sanquintinsince73
Only bad thing is that the guy on trial did not show up and the whole thing had to be postponed. |
I was wondering if only I thought it was strange the first oral trial in Baja was missing the defendant. Geeesh.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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mcfez
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| Quote: | Originally posted by sanquintinsince73
Only bad thing is that the guy on trial did not show up and the whole thing had to be postponed. |
Seriously? 
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNews
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.
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They have a long way to go. I doubt this heart-wrenching statement would be allowed in a US court.
"Just the facts, Ma'am. Nothing but the facts."
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woody with a view
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it is a fact she is a simple housewife. background info, ya know. same for the turd they caught behind the wheel. " nobody saw him steal it" but the
cops caught up to him in minutes. did he buy it from the thief or does he need to be hung in the public square for insulting los juez sucios?
[Edited on 2-6-2011 by woody with a view]
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by woody with a view
it is a fact she is a simple housewife. background info, ya know.
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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. 
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woody with a view
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yep....
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