State v. Jamison

105 Wash. App. 572
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 2, 2001
DocketNos. 44626-6-I; 44896-0-I
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 105 Wash. App. 572 (State v. Jamison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jamison, 105 Wash. App. 572 (Wash. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Kennedy, J.

Jose Acosta and Edgar Jamison appeal their respective felony convictions, contending that custodial statements obtained by police without informing them of their rights as foreign nationals under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (Vienna Convention) mandates suppression of those statements. Acosta claims that the trial court erred in failing to suppress his custodial statement to the police because he was not informed of his right under the Vienna Convention to contact the Honduran Consulate. Jamison, whose Vienna Convention claim is presented in the context of a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the time of his guilty plea, contends that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to vacate judgment and sentence. He argues that his attorney denied him effective assistance during the plea process by failing to move to suppress his custodial statements on the basis that he was not informed of his right to contact the Philippine Consulate. As another basis for his ineffective assistance of counsel claim, Jamison contends that his guilty plea was involuntary because his attorney failed to inform him that he definitely would be deported following his conviction and that he would not be allowed reentry into the United States.

The consolidated issue regarding a foreign national sus[577]*577pect’s rights under the Vienna Convention will be addressed before discussing Acosta’s and Jamison’s individual claims.

VIENNA CONVENTION

Under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention, of which the United States, Honduras and the Philippines are member nations, consular officials and nationals from their respective sending states are free to communicate with and to have access to one another. Article 36 states that “fw]ith a view to facilitating the exercise of consular functions relating to nationals of the sending State:”

[If the foreign national] so requests, the competent authorities of the receiving State shall, without delay, inform the consular post of the sending State if, within its consular district, a national of that State is arrested or committed to prison or to custody pending trial or is detained in any other manner. Any communication addressed to the consular post by the person arrested, in prison, custody or detention shall also be forwarded by the said authorities without delay. The said authorities shall inform the person concerned without delay of his rights under this sub-paragraph.

Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Apr. 24, 1963, art. 36(l)(b), 21 U.S.T. 77, T.I.A.S. No. 6820 (entered into force for the United States Dec. 24, 1969).1 Article 36 also provides that “consular officers shall have the right to visit a national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention, to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation.” Id., art. 36(l)(c).

The obligations of consular notification and access [578]*578are binding on states and local governments, as well as the federal government. See Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution which provides that “all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” See also United States v. Arlington County, 669 F.2d 925 (4th Cir. 1982). The State does not contest that Article 36 of the Vienna Convention was violated when the appellants were not informed of their rights to contact their respective consulates. We must decide whether suppression of custodial statements made by such foreign nationals is an appropriate remedy for violation of the provisions of Article 36 of the Convention.

Division Three of this court recently addressed this issue in State v. Martinez-Lazo, 100 Wn. App. 869, 999 P.2d 1275, review denied, 142 Wn.2d 1003 (2000). In the context of an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the court held that suppression is not a remedy available to a foreign national who was not advised of his rights under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention before he made incriminating statements to law enforcement officers. Id. at 875 (citing United States v. Lombera-Camorlinga, 206 F.3d 882 (9th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 991 (2000); United States v. Nai Fook Li, 206 F.3d 56 (1st Cir. 2000) (en banc)).

The Martinez-Lazo court based its ruling entirely on Lombera-Camorlinga and Li. Before deciding Li, the First Circuit Court of Appeals posed a series of questions to the Department of State, one of which requested the Department’s “exact position on the question whether such treaties [as the Vienna Convention and a bilateral consular convention between the United States and China containing mandatory notification provisions similar to those contained in the bilateral agreement between the United States and the Philippines] may be invoked by defendants in criminal cases.” Department of State Answers to the [579]*579Questions Posed by the First Circuit in United States v. Nai Fook Li (Answers) at A-l.

We have studied the Answers in connection with this appeal. By way of summary of their content, the State Department is of the view that neither the Vienna Convention nor any of the bilateral consular conventions to which the United States is a party require that violation of consulate notification obligations be remedied through the criminal justice systems of the member states. Answers at A-l. Indeed, in the view of the State Department these treaties do not establish rights of individuals at all, but rather state-to-state rights and obligations relevant to the conduct of consular relations. Id. at A-3. Violations are remedied through diplomatic and political means and, where member nations have so agreed by becoming parties to an optional protocol of the Vienna Convention, before the International Court of Justice. Id. at A-3, A-10. In addition, the Department of State has undertaken intensive outreach in order to inform federal, state and local law enforcement officials of their obligations under the treaty, which has resulted in improved compliance. Id. at A-6.2

The accepted tools of treaty interpretation include the text of the treaty, its negotiation history, its Congressional legislative history, and the past practices of member states operating under the treaty. Id. at A-4, A-9.

The language in Article 36 requiring detention authorities to “inform the person concerned without delay of his rights” to consular notification and access was negotiated in order to facilitate consular functions, and not to bestow rights that can be raised by the individual as a basis for relief in criminal court. Id. at A-4, A-6. The obligation to inform the foreign national of his or her right to communicate with his or her consulate is not an end in itself, but rather a mechanism to deal with the possibility that the [580]*580individual being detained might not know of this right, and was the result of a compromise by negotiators after mandatory notification was rejected. Id. at A-6.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
105 Wash. App. 572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jamison-washctapp-2001.