This weekend, Francisco and I had our first "date" since W arrived on the scene. We left him with his abuelita and tia Nadia and went to see this new Mexican documentary called "Presunto Culpable" (Presumed Guilty). Wow. It was NOT a date movie. But it was amazing.



Presunto Culpable is about the Mexican justice system, specifically about the case of one man accused of murder. Despite multiple witnesses saying they saw him working in the street at the time of the murder, and despite having no gunpowder residue on his hands, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison based on one person's testimony. Some lawyers/academics decided to help him and discovered his previous lawyer was practicing with a fake license. On that basis they were able to appeal and ultimately, after several years (spoiler alert!) he is freed. Which is a good thing, too, because if not, not only would he still be in this horrible prison, but everyone who saw this film probably would have wanted to kill themselves. Like, even more than they already did.

Among the things I learned:
- More than 90% of people convicted of crimes in Mexico are convicted without any physical evidence.
- Around 90% of people who are sentenced for a crime NEVER even lay eyes on the judge. WAY.
- Mexican trials are not like on Law & Order. The trial that took place in this documentary (which amazingly was allowed to be videotaped) took place in something that looked like an office, with the "audience" standing on the other side of a counter and the accused behind a wall, looking through a little window (like the picture above). Also, there is this pretty cool aspect of the trial where the accused has the right to confront his accusers, in a very literal way. The "careo," from the Spanish word for face, is where the accused can ask his accuser questions and the judge just observes the whole thing. In the film, the judge had to occasionally tell the accuser to look at the accused when he was talking to him, because that is the whole point of the exercise. The judge is supposed to be able to learn something from the careo, by observing. I think on the one hand, this could be very useful. On the other hand, it just depends on how the judge interprets your behavior and the other person's. There is no jury.
- Policías judiciales really do have a certain look. (Just kidding, officer. You are each handsome in your own way.) (Also, for the uninitiated, policías judiciales are the cops who round up the people accused of committing crimes. Maybe like a U.S. marshal or something? Anyway, they have a reputation for always getting their man. Or some man, at least, in this case.)

So in this documentary, the accused murderer basically questions his own accuser, who ultimately recants. It's pretty amazing to see a poor, humble person conduct his own defense. He had a great lawyer, but he brought it home himself in the careo. But get this. Even though the ONLY witness RECANTED, the judge still upheld the conviction and left the sentence at 20 years. With VIDEOCAMERAS recording the whole thing. You'd think he'd try to justice it up for the cameras if nothing else. It was just appalling. Fortunately things went better in the next appeal.

I have lived in Mexico for about 4 years now, and although I knew things were dodgy in the world of Mexican justice, I guess I didn't want to know it was that bad. Because I have almost always done things "the right way" (without bribes, etc.) and have found that possible, I wanted to believe that would be true all the way up. In most cases, it's easier to pay a bribe, and cheaper — but you don't "have to." But if you're falsely accused of murder, apparently you'd best just ante up right from the start.

I think many people outside Mexico would hear about this movie and be like, "OK, no justice in Mexico. What else is new?" But even if that's your point of view, I still highly recommend it. It's fascinating. And I'm glad I got to see it, because it's now being pulled from theaters due to a lawsuit by the dude who recanted. Still, ironically, due to another fruit of corruption, piracy, plenty of people will still get to buy bootlegged copies in the street and see it anyway.

If you want to read more, here's the web site (in English).

P.S. See? I can write about things other than mommyhood