U.S.-Mexico Death Penalty Dispute

Mexico claimed Monday that dozens of its citizens sitting on death row in the United States didn't get a fair trial, and asked the highest judicial body of the United Nations to rule that their cases should be reconsidered.

Attorneys for Mexico told the International Court of Justice that the men hadn't been told they had the right to legal assistance from the Mexican consulate after their arrests.

The U.S. government knew the men's rights were violated but chose "to look reality in the face and deny it," said Sandra Babcock, one of Mexico's lawyers.

Babcock said consular help "could have, in capital proceedings, made the difference between life and death" for the 52 convicts covered by the Mexican petition. The names of two other convicts were dropped from the suit because they had dual citizenship.

Mexico, which opposes the death penalty, is asking that each remaining case be returned to its status at the time of arrest, and legal proceedings begin anew.

The United States, which will present its oral arguments Tuesday, says all the convicted Mexicans had fair trials and appeals, and says Mexico is misusing the international court to interfere with the U.S. justice system.

The International Court of Justice, also known as the world court, is the U.N. judicial body for resolving disputes between countries.

In February, its 15-judge panel unanimously ordered the United States to delay the executions of three men whose deaths were deemed imminent until it could hear the full case.

Representing the United States, William H. Taft - the great grandson of U.S. President Taft - called the decision then a "radical intrusion into the proper workings of the U.S. criminal justice system."

Mexico lawyer Juan Manuel Gomez said Monday that Mexico "doesn't contest the United States' right as a sovereign country to impose the death penalty for the most grave crimes," but wants to make sure its citizens aren't abused by a foreign legal system they don't always understand.

"It is still possible at this point to restore their rights entirely," Gomez said.

The federal government's refusal to intervene with the judiciaries of the individual states in capital cases involving Mexicans has been an irritant in relations. Mexican President Vincente Fox canceled a visit with President Bush last year after the execution in Texas of one man who was not included in the petition.

At the center of the dispute is the Vienna Convention, a 1963 treaty signed by both countries that says people traveling or living abroad have the right to contact their consulates for legal help when they are accused of a serious crime.

The world court has jurisdiction in disputes over the treaty.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal based on the Vienna Convention from one of the men named in Mexico's suit, Osbaldo Torres, who was convicted of killing two people during a burglary in Oklahoma City in 1993.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that it was "manifestly unfair" for U.S. courts to ignore such appeals.

"It surely is reasonable to presume that most foreign nationals are unaware of the provisions of the Vienna Convention (as are, it seems, many local prosecutors),"

The other 51 Mexicans named in the suit are imprisoned in California, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, and Oregon.

In all, 120 foreign nationals from 29 countries are on death row in various states, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

By Toby Sterling By Toby Sterling