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Raul Garcia-Gomez, wanted for the killing of Denver Police Detective Don Young, has been found and seized in Mexico. Now what? First, many months of negotiating to see if the Mexicans will agree to extradite him to the U.S. for Trial. Sticking points: Mexico doesn’t recognize either the death penalty or life in prison. Unless Denver DA Mitch Morrissey agrees to take both off the table, extradition for trial in Denver may never happen.
The Mexican Supreme Court also ruled in 2001 that prisoners facing the death penalty or life-without-parole in other countries did not have to be extradited because those punishments are unconstitutional.
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Next option: Denver prosecutors could go to Mexico and try him in federal court there. In Spanish. Mitch Morrissey would like to try him in Denver, but would he be giving away the proverbial store, if he agreed so early to a lesser sentence than life in prison? It will be some time before we know the anwers. Stay tuned.