Post by SoulTrainOz on Jun 18, 2006 4:36:47 GMT -5
By Phil Ray, Altoona Mirror
HOLLIDAYSBURG - The Mexican government has appealed a decision by a Blair County judge excluding it from the trial of one of its citizens who faces the death penalty for a triple homicide at the United Veterans Association in Altoona last summer.
The notice to appeal to the state Supreme Court was filed Friday in the Blair County Courthouse by attorney Michael P. O'Conner of Tempe, Ariz.
O'Connor claims that under two separate treaties, the Mexican government should have an oversight role in Miguel Padilla's case, but Judge Hiram A. Carpenter repeatedly has denied the request.
"This is a domestic homicide case subject to administration under the procedures employed by the County of Blair and governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Carpenter wrote in an opinion issued May 18. "It involves no international issues, and the government of Mexico is not a party to the action."
Carpenter anticipated that Mexico might appeal his decision.
"We would hope any reviewing court would confirm that this intervention by Mexico is inappropriate and unjustified under any standard [treaty or otherwise]," he stated.
Padilla is represented by Blair County Public Defender Donald E. Speice and court-appointed attorney Ed Blanarik of Centre County, who will handle the death penalty phase, if necessary.
But the Mexican government contends that the public defender and the courts did not appoint an attorney for Padilla.
For the first time Friday, Mexico charged that Padilla went seven weeks without an attorney and that the government was told Padilla would have to defend himself at his preliminary hearing.
Mexico said the delay in appointing an attorney meant that physical and mental health evidence to be used in Padilla's defense was lost.
It claims that under two international treaties, Mexico has a right to be involved when one of its citizens faces criminal charges.
Padilla is a Mexican national who was raised in Gallitzin and graduted from Penn Cambria High School.
District Attorney Richard Consiglio said while he is not part of the dispute now surging around Padilla, he could end up defending the way Padilla has been treated since his arrest.
He said he agreed with Judge Carpenter's opinion excluding Mexico from the case.
Consiglio saidHe said Speice had a right initially to question whether Padilla met the financial requirements for the public defender's office and said Speice also thought Mexico was going to provide an attorney.
Mexcio says it was clear from the start that it was not going to assume Padilla's defense.
"It's a fight between them we may have to take on," Consiglio said Friday.
He said Padilla has been treated like any other person arrested for homicide. He said Padilla has all the rights of a citizen but does not have rights that other citizens don't have.
Consiglio does not believe the international treaties cited by O'Connor, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the Consular Convention between the United States of Mexico and the United States of America, allows Mexico to say the Padilla case should be handled differently than other cases.
Padilla is set to go on trial in August for the killings of Alfred Mignogna, the owner of the building where the UVA Club is located, a club employee, Frederick Rickabaugh Sr., and patron Stephen Heiss.
Source : Altoona Mirror
www.altoonamirror.com/articles.asp?articleID=2517
HOLLIDAYSBURG - The Mexican government has appealed a decision by a Blair County judge excluding it from the trial of one of its citizens who faces the death penalty for a triple homicide at the United Veterans Association in Altoona last summer.
The notice to appeal to the state Supreme Court was filed Friday in the Blair County Courthouse by attorney Michael P. O'Conner of Tempe, Ariz.
O'Connor claims that under two separate treaties, the Mexican government should have an oversight role in Miguel Padilla's case, but Judge Hiram A. Carpenter repeatedly has denied the request.
"This is a domestic homicide case subject to administration under the procedures employed by the County of Blair and governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Carpenter wrote in an opinion issued May 18. "It involves no international issues, and the government of Mexico is not a party to the action."
Carpenter anticipated that Mexico might appeal his decision.
"We would hope any reviewing court would confirm that this intervention by Mexico is inappropriate and unjustified under any standard [treaty or otherwise]," he stated.
Padilla is represented by Blair County Public Defender Donald E. Speice and court-appointed attorney Ed Blanarik of Centre County, who will handle the death penalty phase, if necessary.
But the Mexican government contends that the public defender and the courts did not appoint an attorney for Padilla.
For the first time Friday, Mexico charged that Padilla went seven weeks without an attorney and that the government was told Padilla would have to defend himself at his preliminary hearing.
Mexico said the delay in appointing an attorney meant that physical and mental health evidence to be used in Padilla's defense was lost.
It claims that under two international treaties, Mexico has a right to be involved when one of its citizens faces criminal charges.
Padilla is a Mexican national who was raised in Gallitzin and graduted from Penn Cambria High School.
District Attorney Richard Consiglio said while he is not part of the dispute now surging around Padilla, he could end up defending the way Padilla has been treated since his arrest.
He said he agreed with Judge Carpenter's opinion excluding Mexico from the case.
Consiglio saidHe said Speice had a right initially to question whether Padilla met the financial requirements for the public defender's office and said Speice also thought Mexico was going to provide an attorney.
Mexcio says it was clear from the start that it was not going to assume Padilla's defense.
"It's a fight between them we may have to take on," Consiglio said Friday.
He said Padilla has been treated like any other person arrested for homicide. He said Padilla has all the rights of a citizen but does not have rights that other citizens don't have.
Consiglio does not believe the international treaties cited by O'Connor, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the Consular Convention between the United States of Mexico and the United States of America, allows Mexico to say the Padilla case should be handled differently than other cases.
Padilla is set to go on trial in August for the killings of Alfred Mignogna, the owner of the building where the UVA Club is located, a club employee, Frederick Rickabaugh Sr., and patron Stephen Heiss.
Source : Altoona Mirror
www.altoonamirror.com/articles.asp?articleID=2517