ShareThisWhen California fugitives flee across the border to Mexico, law enforcement chasing them must abide by an international agreement not to seek the death penalty in exchange for prosecution in the United States for Mexican nationals.U.S. police enter Mexico several times each year looking for fugitives wanted in murders, drug trafficking and robberies.Fugitives can be located living deep inside Mexico. Some have already been arrested by Mexican authorities.Even after someone's found, returning to the United States sometimes can prove just as challenging for law enforcement.While treaties with Mexico have advanced the extradition process in recent years, prosecutors must weigh whether they are willing to waive the death penalty in exchange for getting a possible conviction or closure to a case for a victim's family.In December 2005, Mexico's Supreme Court overturned a four-year ban on extraditing American fugitives who could potentially face life in prison without parole. Inland prosecutors said at the time that the change would lead to the extradition of more than 20 fugitives.The Mexican court has maintained a policy that the country will refuse to extradite suspects if U.S. local prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty, calling the punishment cruel and inhumane."We have to have something that would lead a court to believe someone's in that country," FBI Special Agent Don Roberts said. "No one in Mexico is throwing up roadblocks, but it can be complicated and very difficult. Ideally it can be done in a few days, but it usually takes several weeks or several months."By working with witnesses, family members and evidence about a suspect's past, police can follow the trail deep into foreign countries, Roberts said.FBI agents are also located in 70 offices around the world to work in embassies as liaisons to U.S. authorities, where they assist in the diplomatic process to find and return wanted suspects."It's no different than looking for someone in another state. We do whatever it takes to develop information and ask our counterparts to do their own investigation at the same time," Roberts said. "It can be painstaking. In Mexico there are a lot of rural areas, but like anywhere, you're limited to how hard someone's going to hide and the number of resources to look for them."Federal authorities must seek a provisional warrant requested by local or federal prosecutors, approved by the U.S. State Department, and then approved and issued by the Mexican government, Roberts said.Local police and prosecutors must submit the case, giving a description of the crime and evidence obtained. Authorities have to give an approximate location where they believe a suspect might be and why they believe someone might be there, Roberts said.The extradition proceedings are based on whether a fugitive is a Mexican citizen or has Mexican heritage, where the Mexican government can argue for extradition, Roberts said. Even if an American citizen is Hispanic or has Mexican ancestry, he or she can still qualify. The Mexican government can choose to deport Americans who may be in the country illegally, who could still be eligible for the death penalty in the United States. Prior to the Mexican Supreme Court ruling, San Bernardino County, Calif. prosecutors reached a deal to not seek the death penalty or a mandatory life sentence on Hector Aguirre, who was convicted in September of carjacking and killing Riverside activist Honey Jordan at a San Bernardino donut shop. He now faces 50 years to life in prison.If suspects return to the U.S., authorities can forgo the extradition process and not have to give up a potential death penalty case."Depending on if capital punishment is a factor, it can be tough at times," Rossi said. "A lot of the time we're waiting for someone to come back or be found with our work with the federal government. Sometimes we're successful, otherwise it's just a waiting game."E-mail John Asbury of the Riverside Press Enterprise at jasbury(at)PE.com(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Hunting, extraditing fugitives in Mexico is tricky for U.S. agents
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