''Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon'', 548 U.S. 331 (2006), was a case in which the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
held that a state court did not have to
exclude evidence that was admitted into court in violation of Article 36 of the
Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations is an international treaty that defines a framework for consulate, consular International relations, relations between sovereign states. It codifies many consular practices that originated from Customar ...
.
Background
Moises Sanchez-Llamas, a national of
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, was convicted of attempted murder in
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
after engaging police in an armed confrontation. Mario Bustillo, a national of
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
, was convicted of murder in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
for beating a man to death with a baseball bat. Neither man had his consulate informed of the charges against him, as is required by Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Both Sanchez-Llamas and Bustillo filed state habeas petitions in their respective cases arguing that their right to consular notification had been violated. In both Oregon and Virginia, the courts ruled that because the claims were not argued at the trial court level they were procedurally barred. The supreme courts of Oregon and Virginia both upheld the states' procedural bars. The two cases were then consolidated and argued before the United States Supreme Court.
Opinion of the Court
In an opinion by
Chief Justice John Roberts
John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...
, the Court held that states could admit evidence against defendants even if the evidence was obtained in violation of the Vienna Convention.
''The Supreme Court, 2005 Term — Leading Cases,''
120 Harv. L. Rev. 303 (2006). The Court reasoned that the exclusionary rule is idiosyncratic to American jurisprudence and so could not have been in contemplation by other nation-states when they ratified the Vienna Convention.
The Court also held that Article 36 claims not timely brought could be procedurally barred by state procedural default rules.
However, the Supreme Court was unwilling to rule whether or not Article 36 created individual rights that had to be honored in state criminal proceedings.
See also
* '' Breard v. Greene'' (1998)
* '' Medellin v. Texas'' (2008)
References
External links
* {{caselaw source
, case = ''Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon'', 548 U.S. 331 (2006)
, cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/4-10566.ZS.html
, courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/145628/sanchez-llamas-v-oregon/
, googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15143649953026811980
, justia =https://supreme.justia.com/us/548/331/case.html
, oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/2005/04-10566
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court
2006 in United States case law
United States treaty interpretation case law