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837 N.E.2d 552

Alexander v. State

Indiana Court of Appeals

Decided November 22, 2005

Indiana Court of Appeals · decided 2005-11-22

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently August 2008

3 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“Under the Vienna Convention, a foreign national who has been arrested, imprisoned, or taken into custody must be informed of his right to contact the consular officers of his country. See Zavala v. State, 739 N.E.2d 135, 139 (Ind.App.2000), trans. denied. The United States is a signatory to the Vienna Convention. ... While this Vienna Convention right to contact a consular officer is an important right that should not be ignored under any circumstance, failure to inform a defendant of his or her Vienna Convention right is particularly egregious in cases such as the one before us, where risk of conviction of the charged crime carries such a high penalty.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Sanchez v. State

Relies on Zavala v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2005-11-22

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

MATHIAS, Judge,

¶1concurring.

¶2I fully concur with the majority's determination of the issues presented in this appeal under current Indiana law. However, because Alexander is a Mexican foreign national, I write separately to address his rights under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

¶3Under the Vienna Convention, a foreign national who has been arrested, imprisoned, or taken into custody must be informed of his right to contact the consular officers of his country.3 See Zavala v. State, 739 N.E.2d 135, 139 (Ind.Ct.App.2000), trans. denied. The United States is a signatory to the Vienna Convention.

¶4The record in this case does not reveal whether Alexander was informed that he had a right to contact the Mexican consul. While this Vienna Convention right to contact a consular officer is an important right that should not be ignored under any circumstance, failure to inform a defendant of his or her Vienna Convention right is particularly egregious in cases such as the one before us, where risk of conviction of the charged crime carries such a high penalty.

¶5American citizens abroad would like to believe that they will be treated fairly if they have a misfortune that subjects them *558to the police, prosecutorial and penal authorities of a country they are visiting. But confidence in such fair treatment is unwarranted if we as a nation do not set an example in our treatment of foreign nationals under similar circumstances in United States courts. I would therefore urge law enforcement authorities to make such advice of a foreign national's right to consular contact standard operating procedure in order to help establish an efficient and objectively fair notice and contact process that compliments the Sixth Amendment indigent right to counsel.

¶6. However, the Zavala panel determined that failure to raise the State's violation of the Vienna Convention at trial results in waiver of that issue and the "fundamental error doctrine is inapplicable ... because no violation of a fundamental right is implicated." Id. at 142-43.

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