Attorney General, Senator Lugar focus on “Mexico In Transition”

Zoeller: Mexico’s justice system undergoing fundamental transformation that affects Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS – With Mexico’s organized crime problems in the headlines, Indiana this week is hosting a delegation of 40 Mexican prosecutors and judges and 40 police investigators to train them on the intricacies of the Indiana courts as they prepare for a major transition within their own legal system.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s office is conducting the Rule of Law training for the Mexican legal professionals that lasts through Friday. The kickoff to the training was a public-education event Sunday on “Mexico In Transition” at Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis at which U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, R-Ind., was the keynote speaker. Approximately 200 people registered to attend the presentations by Lugar, Zoeller, Notre Dame Law School Professor Jimmy Gurulé and the state attorneys general of six Mexican states.

Solidarity with those seeking to reform Mexico’s criminal justice system was the theme of Zoeller’s remarks Sunday and the basis for the Rule of Law training this week.

“What brings us all together here today is a common goal to seek justice as we address the problems of crime that we share. All of us have watched in dismay as shocking violence has erupted in Mexico as the drug war has escalated between organized crime cartels and the Mexican government,” Zoeller told the audience Sunday. “Our sympathies are with the millions of hard-working, law-abiding Mexican people who want only to lead quiet lives free of violence, crime and oppression,” the attorney general added.

The Rule of Law training springs from an agreement reached in March between Zoeller and his counterpart from the Mexican state of Baja California, Attorney General Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, through the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. The training is sponsored by the Conference of Western Attorneys General (CWAG) with a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). No state tax dollars are being spent to conduct it. CWAG covered the costs of the visitors’ lodging, educational materials and interpreters.

In his speech Sunday, Zoeller touched on concerns about undocumented workers leaving Mexico for the U.S., the demand for illicit drugs in the U.S. that Mexican drug cartels have supplied and the growing problem of human trafficking in Indiana. But Zoeller also noted economic statistics that show Mexico is second only to Canada as the largest destination for Indiana’s exports, including manufacturing equipment and medical supplies.

The current drug war in Mexico is taking place even as Mexico’s court system undergoes a fundamental transformation, from the inquisitional system of closed written court proceedings inherited from the Spanish to an advocacy system of oral argument similar to that of the United States. That transition is under an amendment to the Mexican Constitution adopted in 2008, and is part of a larger effort to reform and modernize Mexico’s justice system that involves retraining of Mexican legal professionals, Zoeller said.

During the Rule of Law training this week, Indiana lawyers, judges, prosecutors and deputy attorneys general will instruct the Mexican legal professionals on the critical components of Indiana’s justice system. The visitors from Mexico will learn the methods under Indiana law of adversarial trial proceedings, attorneys’ opening and closing statements, direct testimony and cross-examination, preserving forensic evidence at crime scenes and collecting evidence and witness statements.

Among the top legal experts leading training sessions this week are Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard, Indiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Frank Sullivan, Indiana Appeals Court Judge Nancy Vaidik, Indiana Solicitor General Thomas M. Fisher, Notre Dame University Law School Professor Jimmy Gurulé, Marion County Superior Court Judge José Salinas, Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco and several others.

“Legitimacy and trust in the eyes of the public are foundational components for any nation’s system of justice to work effectively,” Zoeller said. “The goal is that our visitors will be better prepared to lead Mexico’s transition into its new adversarial legal system – which is one facet of this larger transformation of Mexico’s system of justice from the inside out.”

Zoeller noted that he was honored that Indiana’s two most-respected foreign-policy experts have assisted him in the effort. Lugar, the former chairman and current ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was the keynote speaker Sunday and offered his perspective on U.S.-Mexico relations. Former Congressman Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., also co-authored with Zoeller a recent letter to the editor on Rule of Law in Mexico that appeared in Indiana newspapers.

Also speaking Sunday at a panel discussion moderated by Professor Gurulé on “Mexico in Transition” in Indianapolis were six state attorneys general from Mexican states. The attorneys general are:

· Pedro Flores Vasquez, State of Tlaxcala

· Miguel Rafael Gonzalez Lastra, State of Tabasco

· Alfredo Higuera Bernal, State of Sinaloa

· Karim Francisco Martinez Lizarraga, State of Baja California Sur

· Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, State of Baja California

· Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre, State of Guanajuato.

NOTE: The Letter to the Editor co-authored by Attorney General Greg Zoeller and former Congressman Lee Hamilton about supporting Rule of Law in Mexico is at this link:

http://www.in.gov/portal/news_events/files/9.17.10_Letter_-_Supporting_the_Rule_of_Law_in_Mexico.pdf