Justice Department Trying to Impose Death Penalty on Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Governor Asks Attorney General Alberto Gonzáles to respect the Puerto Rican Constitution and not to seek the death penalty in the case [more]

The subject of the death penalty has heated up in Puerto Rico, where capital punishment is prohibited by the Constitution of 1952. In theory, because it`s never been tested, residents of Puerto Rico who commit a federal crime that carries the death penalty could be sentenced to die. Such is the case with two Puerto Ricans who have been tried and convicted of killing a security guard and who, on April 11, will go before the same jury that found them guilty to determine whether they will be sentenced to the death penalty. On March 22 a federal jury found Hernando Medina Villegas and Lorenzo Catalán Román guilty of killing the security guard in 2002. The U.S. Attorney`s Office has said it has jurisdiction because the case involves interstate commerce. If the two men are condemned to die, the federal criminal justice system would have to take the extraordinary step of bringing them to the mainland to execute them. Despite the high crime rate in Puerto Rico, opinion polls have consistently found that the people are opposed to the reinstatement of the death penalty. On Tuesday, the governor, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, formally asked the U.S. to refrain from imposing the death penalty in Puerto Rico. People from the civic sector, religious organizations ranging from the Roman Catholic Church to conservative groups, people who support independence and people who support statehood, and those in the labor movement have all come out against the death penalty on the island. [more]