Gabriel Solache

Gabriel Solache is a Mexican national charged with a double homicide and kidnapping. Though he speaks no English, he was convicted on the grounds of his supposed English-language confession. The U.S. refuses to extradite him despite protests from the Mexican Embassy that the conditions of his arrest and conviction are in violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. He was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to die. After Ryan’s decision in 2003, his sentence was commuted to life without parole. Illinois’ Center on Wrongful Convictions is representing Solache and hopes to prove his innocence.

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The Sentencing Project
The Sentencing Project is a nationally recognized source of criminal justice policy analysis, data, and program information, dedicated to developing alternative sentencing for prisoners. Download their fact sheet on Hispanic prisoners in the United States.

Cops and Confessions, Chicago Tribune (investigative series), December 16, 2001 - January 6, 2002
This Chicago Tribune investigative series examines false confessions and the reasons behind them. The Tribune's investigation of murder cases filed in Cook County, Illinois since 1991 found at least 247 cases where suspects confessed, but the charges against them were dropped, the confession was thrown out, or the defendant was acquitted. The Tribune also found that police obtained confessions from men who were in jail when the crime occurred.

The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations from the International Justice Project website:

Overview

Under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 (VCCR), local authorities must notify all detained foreigners "without delay" of their right to have their consulate informed of their detention. At the request of the national, the authorities must then notify the consulate without delay, facilitate unfettered consular communication and grant consular access to the detainee. Consuls are empowered to arrange for their nationals' legal representation and to provide a wide range of humanitarian and other assistance, with the consent of the detainee. Local laws and regulations must give "full effect" to the rights enshrined in Article 36. The USA ratified the VCCR without reservations in 1969; so fundamental is the right to consular notification and access that the US Department of State considers it to be required under customary international law in all cases, even if the detainee's home country has not signed the VCCR.

The United States has also ratified the VCCR Optional Protocol Concerning the Compulsory Settlement of Disputes. By ratifying the optional protocol, the United States has agreed to submit to the binding jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice for the settlement of claims based on the VCCR.

For the full text of Article 36 and more about the Mexican government’s concerns over US violations, please visit http://www.internationaljusticeproject.org/nationalsInstruments.cfm

The Deadline DVD features an additional scene with Gabriel Solache about the Vienna Convention violations in his case.

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