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March 31, 2005
Yankee Justice in the land of drug cartels and guerrilla war
The U.S. has spent close to $80 million to get Colombia ready to switch from a written, inquisitive judicial system to the accusatory system that starred in courtrooms in Bogota and a few other cities three months ago. It's a system much like the one we see in criminal court in the United States, except for jurors. Here, judges are the ones responsible for deciding whether someone is innocent or guilty of a crime. I'm writing a story about this, so I won't let out all the secrets, but I'll tell you this much: To sit in a Bogota courtroom these days is much like watching a Spanish episode of Law & Order. Take my experience today at Courtroom #7 in Paloquemao Judicial Complex, which is next to the headquarters of Colombia's equivalent to the FBI, the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, a building destroyed in 1989 by a Pablo Escobar sicario who parked a bus packed with 500 kilos of dynamite in front of it and blew it up, killing 70 people. At Courtroom #7, Judge Rosa Irena Veloza Escobar presided over a bail hearing for a skinny 25-year-old named Julian Leonardo Toledo Castro, aka El Chiqui Toledo, accused of stabbing a neighbor during a street fight on Jan. 1. The prosecutor sported leather jacket and pants and bright red lipstick to match her carrot-colored hair. The public defender had on a navy blue suit and a pair of brown shoes in desperate need of replacement or, at least, repair. The prosecutor presented her case for Julian to be kept behind bars. The defender seemed well intentioned, but couldn't quite articulate his arguments that favored Julian's release. Julian left the courtroom in shackles, escorted by a guard.
The defender, Jorge Hernan Sanabria, told me later that he thinks the judge didn't understand what he really meant to say. Then, he theorized that maybe the judge made a mistake, for he's confident he raised reasonable doubt - and when in doubt, the judge should favor the defense, he said. Sanabria left the courthouse disappointed. I felt bad and offered to buy him lunch. He told me he wanted to take a walk and organize his thoughts before he ate anything. "Some other day," he said, "when you come back to Colombia."
Speaking in court is among the greatest difficulties lawyers have had in adapting to the new system. Before, they had to be good writers, for every argument they made, every step of a criminal, case was argued in paper. Oratory is an art and, from what I've seen and heard, not too many have mastered it. The U.S. Embassy here is offering two-week training courses in the new system to prosecutors, defenders, judges and investigators. Each course carries a day of oral argument training and a chance to argue a ficticious case at a mock trial that marks the end of the program. One day to learn how to get up and talk, to verbalize what, for years, lawyers had done in writing. Tough task.
Posted by Fernanda Santos at March 31, 2005 01:23 PM