Amparo News!

I have not posted in quite some time, as Rebecca's case has been in a holding pattern, wating for the third stage of the Mexican (in)justice system to run it's course. I am referring to the Amparo.

After her initial conviction, a railroad job at best, we waited for justice to be done in the appeal court. As you may have read a long time ago on this blog, that process was delayed after her case was moved to another court due to a large case load. That was a huge disappointment, because the first appeal judge stated that they would make it a priority and ensure that justice was served. Well, the case was moved and went to the bottom of a new stack of cases in a diffeent court.

The new appeal came back and was another huge disappointment, because it seemed obvious that the new appeal judge did not actually review the entire case that showed no real evidence against Rebecca. Instead, it did appear that the judege simply reviewed the sentencing document and upheld her conviction. This is almost understandable, due to the undercurrent of claims in the system that it was a difficult case and as thick as it was and so convoluted, would have required great diligence on the part of the judge. This is not to make excuses, by any means, but simply to point out how the process has worked against Rebecca so far.

In any event, yesterday brought news from the third stage of the Mexican judicial system, the Amparo. An Amparo is a three judge panel that is charged with a complete, unbiased and unswayed review and is the last possible appeal.

The good news is that they revoked Rebecca's sentence. That is also the bad news. Let me try to explain to the best of my understanding from what I could decipher from a brief conversation with Rebecca and then her sister ,Barbara.

The good news:
By the sentence being revoked, the whole process starts over. By starting over, I mean from the moment she gave her first "declaration." Think deposition. So, when the US Consulate failed to provide an interpretor back in February 2006, her rights were abused and so, the Amparo judges believe that that is where the case needs to go... back to where Rebecca was not represented, her statments were twisted, she signed (under duress) a statement that was not in context with what she would have stated had she had proper representation. Sounds complicated, right? It was. Kind of like Guantanamo to most of us.

So, by starting at this point and having a proper statement issued, withut any twisting of her words and knowing exactly what she is signing, a judge has to look at the case in it's proper context. Odds are, and we are cetainly hopeful, that the case will not move any further from there and Rebecca will be set free, basically uncharged.

The bad news:
This also allows for the Mexican (in)justice system to run her through the ringer all over again from the initial trial, appeal, and another Amparo, should it all go that far again.

Disclaimer to all of the above... I want to make it clear that I may not have all of the facts absolutely correct here, and I don't know that Rebecca is certain of what all this means yet, either. This entry to the blog is an effort to update those that have been following with interest and concern, the plight of Rebecca Roth... "Prisoner in Paradise."

We should have some news soon and I will post anything I hear as soon as it is made available to me.