Overview
- The SCJN plenary issued a binding criterion that Article 36 protections of the Vienna Convention cover arrested or detained persons abroad but do not extend to witnesses.
- The Court denied an amparo and left a Jalisco homicide conviction in place after the defendant sought to exclude statements taken from Mexican witnesses in Los Angeles.
- Ministra ponente Sara Irene Herrerías Guerra presented the draft establishing the detainee-only scope, emphasizing the greater vulnerability of those deprived of liberty.
- Ministra Yasmín Esquivel Mossa concurred in confirming the sentence, stressing that the validity of testimony does not hinge on consular assistance for witnesses.
- The ruling affirms that Mexican authorities may weigh testimony obtained abroad if taken under the foreign country’s law, and the SCJN will not second‑guess how such evidence was gathered.