When Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean decided to cross the border to Mexico, it was not necessarily to have a bonding experience with his roots. He must have known 7 as do many who head south after committing a heinous crime 7 that on the other side of the border, anyone who faces charges that could lead to the death penalty can very well get away with murder.

Cpl. Laurean, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Mexico, is accused of murdering pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach in North Carolina last December. The young Marine had accused Laurean of raping her, and shortly before she was to testify in front of a military grand jury, she disappeared. The rape allegations against Laurean were never proven, but when Lauterbach/s charred remains were found buried in his back yard, his problems got a lot bigger. Then it was he who disappeared.

After an extensive manhunt on both sides of the border, Laurean was spotted on April 10 walking down the street in a small town in the Mexican state of Michoacan. He was detained by Mexican authorities and jailed, pending extradition proceedings.

Although he claims to be innocent 7 he left his wife a note saying that Lauterbach had slit her own throat 7 he will eventually have to face the justice system in this country, but what he will not have to face is the death penalty.

His case is one of many that anger U.S. prosecutors, who don/t like other governments telling them how U.S. criminal law should be applied. But Mexican law is very clear. It does not believe in the death penalty and will not send a foreigner back to his or her country if he or she potentially could be put to death. Last year, Mexico handed over 73 suspected criminals to the U.S., but only after assurances that none would face the death penalty if convicted of his or her crimes.

For 30 years, U.S. authorities have had to abide by a 1978 treaty that forces them to relinquish a capital punishment sentence even for the worst offenders. In Laurean/s case, Onslow County (N.C.) District Attorney Dewey Hudson had to promise Mexican officials that he would not seek the death penalty if Laurean was convicted of the pregnant Marine/s death. The most he could face would be life in prison.

The result would not have been much different if Laurean had decided to cross the border on the north rather than the south. The U.S. also has a treaty with Canada that allows Canada to refuse an extradition request if it does not receive assurances that U.S. prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.

The death penalty is a huge issue around the world, and there is a strong movement in the United Nations for a moratorium on capital punishment. BThe use of the death penalty undermines human dignity, blocks the progress and development of human rights and provides no conclusive evidence of the death penalty/s deterrent value,C states the resolution.

The U.S., along with Cuba and 52 other countries, voted against the moratorium, but a total of 133 member countries have already abolished the death penalty either in law or in practice. According to the Web site religioustolerance.org, last year the only countries that had 25 or more executions were Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Although the death penalty is at the center of a moral debate, according to opinion polls most Americans support it. Capital punishment is still applied in 36 states around the country, and the Supreme Court has just upheld the use of a three-drug lethal injection. So, it/s not likely that it will be abolished in the U.S. anytime soon.

There is little doubt that our criminal-justice system could use some deep revisions. There have been far too many cases in which innocent people have paid with their lives for the mistakes or injustices of incompetent prosecutors. But the truth is that no one should be able to get away with murder, especially simply by heading north or south of the border.

Maria Elena Salinas is the author of BI am my father/s daughter: Living a life without secrets.C Reach her at mariaesalinas.com.

April 21, 2008