Judge Rejects Bid to Drop Charges in Camarena Killing

U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie on Monday rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to have charges dismissed against one of two Mexican nationals charged in the 1985 torture and murder of an American drug agent, clearing the way for jurors to begin hearing the case later this week.

Rafeedie rejected defense arguments that Humberto Alvarez Machain, a Guadalajara gynecologist who is charged with conspiracy to kidnap and murder Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique Camarena, should be returned to Mexico because Alvarez’s 1990 abduction at the behest of the American government violated international law and custom.

Rafeedie had earlier ruled that Alvarez could not be tried in the United States because of that abduction, but that ruling was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. In this attempt to have charges dismissed, ACLU lawyer Paul Hoffman argued that a 1988 treaty prohibited the government’s actions and warranted dismissal of the case.

Although that treaty did not take effect until after Alvarez was abducted in early 1990, Hoffman argued that continuing to hold Alvarez meant that the United States is now in violation of the document. Rafeedie disagreed and said he believed that if he dismissed the case, the Supreme Court would overrule him again.

“I have no vested interest in my earlier decision,” Rafeedie said. “I did my job. The Supreme Court did theirs. Unfortunately, they did not see it as this court did. . . . My obligation now is to get this defendant a fair trial.”

Rafeedie’s ruling on that and other motions Monday cleared most of the issues that remain to be decided before the trial can begin. Meanwhile, more than 100 potential jurors were given detailed questionnaires, and Rafeedie said he expects to begin questioning them individually today.

If all goes as planned, opening arguments will be delivered Wednesday.

Alvarez and Ruben Zuno Arce, brother-in-law of former Mexican President Luis Echeverria Alvarez, face possible life sentences if convicted of conspiring to kidnap and murder Camarena in 1985. That murder shocked American authorities and sparked years of investigation and prosecution that have strained relations between the United States and Mexico.

Mexican authorities have repeatedly written to Judge Rafeedie and others to express their concerns about the case, particularlythe abduction of Alvarez. Rafeedie said he received a letter from the Mexican consulate as recently as Monday.

The trial will mark the first time Alvarez has ever faced the criminal charges against him. Zuno was tried and convicted in 1990, but Rafeedie overturned that verdict because of what he deemed improper statements by prosecutors.

Jurors may hear some discussion of the 1990 trial, but they will not be told of the outcome in that case, Rafeedie ruled Monday.

Rafeedie’s rulings on motions were made outside the presence of about 120 potential jurors, but he did speak briefly to the group, telling them that “this is perhaps the most interesting case on which you will ever have the opportunity to serve,” and he urged them to be candid in filling out a questionnaire designed to determine whether they bring any bias to the case.

The 15-page questionnaire probes potential jurors on a wide variety of topics. It asks, for instance, whether they have relatives in law enforcement or in Mexico and whether they are prejudiced against Latinos. The questionnaire also asks about what jurors know of this case, and about what newspaper and magazine subscriptions they have.