Court Opinion

ID: 9732185
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:11:02.571119+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:24.720042
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HEIPLE, also dissenting: Defendant, a Polish citizen residing in the United States as a permanent resident alien, was, along with other offenses, tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to death. This court affirmed defendant’s convictions and sentence on direct appeal. Subsequently, defendant filed a section 2 — 1401 petition for relief from judgment and a petition for a writ of mandamus based upon an alleged violation of his rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (Vienna Convention). Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, April 24, 1963, 21 U.S.T. 77, 596 U.N.T.S. 261. The Vienna Convention is a binding international treaty to which the United States and the Republic of Poland are parties. Article 36 of the Vienna Convention required the State to inform defendant of his right to contact a Polish consular official at the time of his arrest. This was not done. Upon belatedly learning of the defendant’s situation, however, the Polish government has now intervened on defendant’s behalf. Although there is no dispute that the State violated the Vienna Convention by failing to provide defendant the required consular notification, the majority declines to provide defendant any relief for this violation. Because this case raises important issues of international relations and the rights of all persons, domestic and foreign, I respectfully dissent. The State suggests that a letter of apology to the Polish government would rectify this oversight. Whether this apology would be sent before or after defendant’s execution was not specified. WTiat is cavalierly dismissed here is that the consular notification requirement is meant to ensure that foreign nationals imprisoned abroad have adequate legal representation and that they should be tried in accordance with principles of justice generally recognized in the international community by allowing consular officials to consult with the defendant and with attorneys, court officials and prosecutors. It is important to note that this protection is designed for Americans abroad as well as for foreign nationals in the United States. In the instant case, however, the Polish Consul General was not even aware of defendant’s situation until 1998, some 16 years after his conviction and sentence. The question arises, how can we expect protection under this treaty for American citizens abroad if we do not extend equal protection to foreign nationals residing in the United States? The answer is, we cannot. The decision reached in this case thus has implications reaching far beyond the execution of this defendant. For the breach of this international convention, defendant’s convictions and sentence should be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial in compliance with the solemn treaty obligations of the United States, which, under our constitution, are the supreme law of the land. For the reasons given, I respectfully dissent. CHIEF JUSTICE HARRISON joins in this dissent.