I "HOPE" THIS "CHANGE"S PEOPLES IDEAS

Illegal immigrant fails to sway judge in sex case


Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^
06/14/07
Kathy Jefcoats

Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 1:15:22 PM by madprof98
A judge refused Wednesday to drop child molestation charges against an illegal Mexican immigrant who argued Clayton County police violated diplomatic law during the arrest. Eligio Chia-Duran, 30, alleged a violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, an international treaty adopted by the United States, because arresting officers failed to tell Chia-Duran he had the right to contact the Mexican embassy in Atlanta.

Chia-Duran is charged with aggravated battery and aggravated child molestation involving the then-8-month-old daughter of his girlfriend. The mother, Fabiola Delgado Mata, 20, also is charged. The baby, who is paralyzed from the waist down because of injuries allegedly inflicted by Chia-Duran, is in state custody.

Defense lawyer Stephen Mackie said after the hearing, "A diplomat from his own country could have explained his rights to him in Spanish, emphasizing his right to remain silent and not make a statement, which is a right not all countries have." But Clayton deputy chief assistant District Attorney John Turner said Chia-Duran didn't identify himself as a foreign national when he was arrested in December and even presented a North Carolina driver's license as proof of identity. "To argue this point, you first have to prove that the officer knew the suspect to be a foreign national," he said. "And he's had a privately retained attorney from Day 1 and he hasn't made an effort to contact the embassy on his behalf."

Mackie said Chia-Duran does not speak English. He has required an English-Spanish interpreter at every court hearing. Clayton County Superior Court Judge Matthew O. Simmons rejected the defense motion, but Mackie said he may appeal. University College London professor Eileen Denza, who teaches classes on the Vienna Convention, said the treaty is usually invoked during murder or death penalty cases.

Turner said he is familiar with its use in arrests on the Mexican-U.S. border but Georgia police officers just aren't trained to advise suspects of that particular right. Mackie said the problem could be resolved with an addition to the already mandated Miranda warning. "It would be a simple thing to add a line to the Miranda warning and advise everybody of that right," he said. "A foreign national doesn't have to be a Mexican who doesn't speak English, it could be a Canadian who talks just like us."