You are cordially invited to the next Virtual Seminar on the topic of Cross Examination during Trial. Experienced prosecutors from the Washington State Attorney General's Office will share presentations and demonstrations regarding Cross Examination. This event will be broadcast in Spanish, and there is no cost to tune in. Enroll here, and tune in live here, on Wednesday, April 6.
10:00am - 1:30pm (Pacific)
11:00am - 2:30pm (Mountain)
12:00pm - 3:30pm (Central)
1:00pm - 4:30pm (Eastern)

At the February 10th inauguration of the "Forum on Oral Trials: A New Way of Doing Justice in Baja California Sur" in La Paz, BCS, Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis asserted that, "Justice delayed is justice denied; we as authorities have an enormous commitment to provide security and a transparent judicial process to each of our citizens." Some 400 members of the Baja California Sur legal community, including prosecutors, investigators, forensic experts, judges, public and private defense attorneys, law school faculty and students, and private attorneys, gathered to learn about oral trials from experienced US litigators, and observe a mock trial enacted by personnel from the state Attorney General's Office, Public Defender's Office and Judiciary. An additional 216 unique viewers observed the event via live simultaneous online broadcast. The broadcast is available (in Spanish) here.

From March 7 to 11, a group of prosecutors, investigators and forensic scientists from the Attorneys Generals' Offices of the Mexican states of Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco and Mexico City gathered in Mexico City, where they learned about working together as a team to bring a case to trial, with the participation of experienced US investigators and litigators from Arizona and Washington, DC. Simultaneously, a team of US instructors shared the live lectures via videoconference in Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, and conducted practice sessions on site. The teams participated in a series of practical exercises from investigation through trial with experienced investigators and litigators from California and Oregon. 60 Mexican law enforcement personnel and 8 US instructors participated in the Exchange.

CWAG congratulates the Baja California Sur Attorney General's Office on obtaining a conviction in their first oral trial under the New System of Criminal Justice. CWAG Legal Advisor Frank Collins consulted with the prosecutor handling the case prior to the oral trial. During some 5 hours together, they discussed strategies for presenting the witnesses and physical evidence, analyzed the state's evidence in support of its assertions, and rehearsed opening and closing statements. This intense preparation paid off in a strong showing in court, and a guilty verdict.

The case dealt with a carjacking of a taxi that occurred in Ciudad Constitución on August 11, 2015. The trial was held on the 29th of February. The Attorney General's Office said, "With the completion of the first oral trial in the history of Baja California Sur and the resulting guilty verdict, the Attorney General's Office proves through its actions the commitment of the citizens of our state to carry out criminal investigations in a professional, technical, scientific and legal manner, to prove criminal responsibility."