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Mexico has first of new speedy trials in justice system
After years of slow movement throughout the Mexican courts, they are now implementing speedy trials, similar to the U.S. court system.
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
The Associated Press
MONTERREY , Mexico, Feb. 18-- The way things usually work in Mexican courts, it would have taken years to prosecute Alejandro Santana on charges he drove drunk and crashed his car, killing one of his passengers and leaving another a quadriplegic.
Marcela Pena, right center, legal representative of the University Hospital, sits before judge Francisco Manuel Saenz Moreno, top center, as the drunk driving case against Alejandro Santana, 19, not seen, gets underway in Montemorels, Mexico on Friday Feb. 18, 2005. The case is the nation's first U.S.-style public trial, replacing a slow and secretive judicial process conducted on paper and moving Mexico a step closer toward reforms President Vicente Fox is seeking nationwide. (AP Photo/Juan Manuel Villasenor) **EFE OUT**But three months after his arrest, the 19-year-old's case is whizzing through the courts. It's the first trial under a new set of rules designed to speed up cases by forcing lawyers to argue using the spoken word instead of the written word, an unprecedented step President Vicente Fox wants to expand nationwide.
The new format - called oral trials - represent a dramatic departure from the current Mexican justice system in which defense lawyers and prosecutors interview witnesses, gather evidence and pass their findings in writing to judges, who review the bulky files, then issue a written verdict.
Mexican judges handle hundreds of cases a year and often the accused can stay in jail for months before the trial starts. Information is often kept secret by judges, and corruption thrives.
In June, state lawmakers in Nuevo Leon approved oral trials, requiring both the prosecution and defense to argue their cases publicly before a judge in cases involving property damage or where the defendant is accused of battery or manslaughter. They hope to eventually expand the program to all trials.
State officials argued the new proceedings would help streamline Nuevo Leon's judicial system and make trials more transparent.
In Satana's case in Montemorelos, 40 miles southeast of Monterrey , Judge Francisco Saenz began listening to witness testimony on Monday, and the trial was expected to wrap up Friday. A verdict could come as early as next week.
Prosecutors say Santana was drunk when the pickup truck he was driving flipped over, killing one of his friends and leaving another paralyzed from the neck down. Santana said he lost control of the truck but was not drunk after drinking five beers.
For years, human rights groups have asked for broad justice reforms in a country where confessions extracted under torture, botched investigations, and an excess of bureaucracy feed a deep mistrust of the system.
The written system, however, prevails in the rest of Mexico.
The reforms in Nuevo Leon resemble a proposal presented in March by Fox that calls for an overhaul of the federal justice system. His proposal would also substitute oral trials for written judgments, clearly delineate the presumption of innocence in the constitution, and reorganize national police forces. It's currently being debated in Congress.
Story Produced by: Jonathan Krotov
