Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Leniency urged for Mexican convict

Chicago Sun-Times
July 23, 2003
BY JANET RAUSA FULLER
Staff Reporter

The Mexican Consulate in Chicago called Tuesday on Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine to drop plans to seek the death penalty for Veronica Diaz, a 27-year-old Mexican citizen who was convicted in February of drowning her 3-year-old son in a bathtub in 1997.

Consular officials say Diaz, who does not speak or read English, was coerced into signing a confession while in custody and was never given the chance to contact the consulate for legal help, as is required under international law.

Community activists and Diaz's attorney, Marijane Placek, joined consular officials for a news conference at the First United Methodist Church downtown before delivering a letter to Devine asking him to review the case they say is yet another example of a flawed criminal justice system.

"We are very concerned that this is another injustice in the making," said Jane Bohman, executive director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.
Complicating matters is that Diaz, who is seeking a new trial, is dying of a liver disease and can't get proper treatment because she is an undocumented alien and her case is under appeal, Placek said.

Placek also represents Omar Aguirre, who was sent to jail with another man for a 1997 murder but cleared in December after a federal probe turned up evidence pointing to three other men.

Aguirre's case was similar to Diaz's in that he didn't speak English but was convicted based on a supposed confession, and police failed to notify the consulate as required by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Placek said. Aguirre is now suing the city and the police department.