Sentencing sensibilities south of the border

My co-author and co-editor Nora Demleitner called to my attention this interesting article from the New York Times concerning the federal government’s agreement with Mexican authorities to extradite to the US Agustin Vasquez Mendoza, who is suspected of orchestrating the killing of an undercover American drug agent in Arizona in 1994.  What especially caught our attention was the report that “federal officials have waived the death penalty for Mr. Vasquez, and recommended that any sentence for him include the possibility of parole after 25 years.”  Given that there has not been parole in the federal system since 1987, we wondered about the terms of this deal.

Nora did some investigating and reported these interesting details about this case and related issues of extradition:

A Maricopa County, Phoenix, Arizona, grand jury indicted Vasquez for First Degree Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery, Kidnapping and Attempted Armed Robbery following the killing of a DEA agent in 1994.  Even though Mexican authorities arrested Vasquez in 2000, extradition has been held up in part by Mexico’s restrictions on extradition.  Though Mexico extradites its nationals, it does not do so if they could either receive a death sentence or a life without a parole term.  The Mexican Constitution, according to Mexico’s highest court, assumes that every person is capable of rehabilitation and must be afforded the opportunity to show it.  This is why US officials had to waive capital charges and agree to recommend parole eligibility after 25 years, assuming Vasquez gets convicted.  The Mexican high court’s decision not to permit extradition in life-without-parole cases has made extradition with Mexico more difficult.  While Mexico isn’t the only country with this restriction, it’s the most important for the US in terms of extraditions.