Jalisco’s lawyers have come out crying foul less than a week before the official start of U.S.-style oral trials in the state.
This week it was revealed that fewer than one percent of the state’s criminal lawyers have received training/certification enabling them to participate in open court hearings, where prosecutors and defense attorneys present their cases before a judge.
The oversight could threaten the legitimacy of the trials, which are scheduled to begin in the municipality of Zapotlán El Grande (Ciudad Guzman) on Wednesday, October 1.
While decorators battled around the clock to finish the two courtrooms in Ciudad Guzman this week, José Luis Tello, president of the Jalisco Lawyers College, questioned the methodology by which federal resources have been allocated to train personnel in Jalisco to work in the new justice system.
At a press conference, Tello said Jalisco had received 900 million pesos (67 million dollars) from the federation to set up the oral trial system. Funds covered the training of nine judges, who took more than four years to receive their certification, as well as other employees of the judiciary who will serve as administrators. However, only 30 defense lawyers have obtained official certification so far.
“We’re not ready to implement this system of justice,” Tello complained. “The government is only training their own employees. They have forgotten society, individuals who demand justice of quality … the system cannot be unilateral, and unfortunately (the oral trials) will only be decorative.”
Few Mexicans have much faith in the current flawed justice system, which consists of lawyers submitting written evidence to judges, with no jury present and no verbal testimony from the prosecution or defense. It is generally considered slow, inefficient, lacking in transparency and open to corruption.
Even with the injection of federal funds, only 20 percent of police officers and officials from the Ministerio Publico (Public Prosecutor’s Office) have received any training about how the new justice system operates.
Although the Mexican Congress voted to make the transition to U.S.-style courtroom trials by 2016, Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval has repeatedly voiced concerns that this state would not be ready to make the change on time.
This week he said it was perfectly acceptable that the project is kicking off with “minimal infrastructure” and expects it to “gather steam” over the coming months. He expressed his determination not to go over budget on implementing oral trials in such times of austerity.
Even with the deadline fast approaching, senior members of the judiciary are complaining that resources are only trickling in, putting in jeopardy a smooth start-up for the new system.
Even at the final hour, it is still unclear exactly how many staff will be employed to administer the trials in Ciudad Guzman. Jaime Gomez of the State Judicial Council predicted this week that without a defined operating budget, the project is doomed to fail.
Four judges – there are no juries – have been appointed to preside over Ciudad Guzman’s new courtrooms, which correspond to the Sixth Penal District, an area that encompasses 20 municipalities, including Tamazula, San Gabriel, Sayula, Zacoalco de Torres, Zapotlán el Grande and Tuxpan – approximately 400,000 inhabitants. The courts have been built alongside the penitentiary known as the Penal Regional del Sur.
Open trials will next be implemented in Puerto Vallarta.