Meza v. U.S. Attorney Gen.

• Decision Date: 06 September 2012
• Docket Number: No. 11–13433.,11–13433.
• Citation: 693 F.3d 1350
• Parties: Carlos Alberto Yacaman MEZA, Petitioner–Appellant, v. U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, United States Department of Justice, Respondents–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

693 F.3d 1350

Carlos Alberto Yacaman MEZA, Petitioner–Appellant,

v.U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, United States Department of Justice, Respondents–Appellees.

No. 11–13433.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

Sept. 6, 2012.

Bernardo Lopez, Fed. Pub. Def., Fort Lauderdale, FL, Michael Caruso, Fed. Pub. Def., Miami, FL, for Petitioner–Appellant.

Jeanne Marie Mullenhoff, Wifredo A. Ferrer, Kathleen Mary Salyer, Anne Ruth Schultz, U.S. Attys., Miami, FL, Cynthia Stone, U.S. Atty., Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Respondents–Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before WILSON, PRYOR and MARTIN, Circuit Judges.

PRYOR, Circuit Judge:

This appeal involves the constitutional separation of powers and the limited judicial role in the extradition of a foreign national. Carlos Alberto Yacaman Meza, a Honduran national, appeals the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. See28 U.S.C. § 2241 (2006). The Republic of Honduras requested, under the United States–Honduras Extradition Treaty of 1909, that the United States extradite Yacaman for prosecution on the charge of murder of a fellow Honduran national, Luis Rolando Valenzuela Ulloa. At the request of the United States, a magistrate judge held an extradition hearing and issued a certification of extraditability for Yacaman. See18 U.S.C. § 3184 (2006). Witnesses to the alleged murder averred, without dispute, that Yacaman shot Valenzuela at a restaurant for his refusal to deliver on a bribe for government contracts. Yacaman then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to block his extradition, but the district court denied that petition. On appeal, Yacaman contends that the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment bars his extradition by the Secretary of State, that the murder of Valenzuela constitutes a political offense for which he cannot be extradited, and that there is no valid extradition treaty in force between Honduras and the United States. Yacaman's first argument is not ripe because the Secretary of State has not yet determined whether he is likely to be tortured nor decided whether to extradite him, and his other arguments lack merit. We vacate in part and affirm in part the denial of Yacaman's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, lift the stay of the extradition proceedings, and remand with instructions to dismiss Yacaman's claim under the Convention Against Torture.

I. BACKGROUND

An expert witness proffered by Yacaman explained, in the proceeding before the magistrate judge, that in 2005 Valenzuela helped Jose Manuel Zelaya ascend to the presidency by raising money for Zelaya's campaign. Valenzuela promised donors like Yacaman that they would receive a place in the Zelaya administration in exchange for political donations. Zelaya won the election and appointed Valenzuela to serve as a minister in his cabinet.

In June 2009, Zelaya's efforts to amend the Honduran Constitution to permit him to seek another presidential term precipitated a coup d'état. In the early morning hours of June 28, 2009, the Honduran military assailed the presidential palace and forced Zelaya, who was still in his pajamas, onto an airplane bound for Costa Rica. Later that day, the Honduran Congress voted Zelaya out of office and installed Roberto Micheletti, the Speaker of Congress, as Interim President.

After the coup, numerous protests broke out. There were “days and week[s] of demonstrations ... [and] violence, [and] some killings in the streets as the military attempted to reestablish order.” The estimates of deaths ranged “anywhere from several hundred to a couple thousand people.”

The United States and the Organization of American States brokered an agreement to stop the violence. The Honduran government agreed to hold elections monitored by international observers and promised to allow Zelaya to return to Honduras. Initially, Zelaya's supporters—known as La Resistancia—opposed the elections, but eventually La Resistancia negotiated with the probable successor of Micheletti, Porfirio Lobo. The mass protests and demonstrations “began to decline,” and Lobo was elected President in November 2009.

In June 2010, there was “considerable public denunciation” of Lobo because he had not helped Zelaya return to Honduras. Members of La Resistancia, including Valenzuela, challenged President Lobo in an atmosphere of “open antagonism” and “friction.” At least a dozen journalists were assassinated. But as the summer progressed, “calmer heads prevailed,” and more members of La Resistancia began to negotiate with the Lobo government.

Nevertheless, in 2010, Honduras remained a “violent and highly dangerous country.” The presence of drug traffickers and corrupt military groups accounted for much of the violence. Institutional corruption continued unabated, and the Honduran authorities failed to protect government officials and civilians from violent retribution.

Zelaya's former minister, Valenzuela, was shot and killed while he dined at a restaurant in Honduras one year after the coup. The Honduran government interviewed witnesses to the murder, concluded that Yacaman shot Valenzuela, and obtained an arrest warrant from a Honduran judge. We rely on one of the witness's sworn accounts to describe the facts of the murder. We assume the facts are true because Yacaman does not contest them.

On the evening of June 15, 2010, Yacaman approached Valenzuela at his table at Feocarril Restaurant. Yacaman told Valenzuela's companions that the former minister was a “scoundrel” and a “thief” who had robbed Yacaman's factory of 10 million lempiras. Yacaman complained that Valenzuela had promised Yacaman “several [government] projects” in exchange for Yacaman's campaign donations to Zelaya, but that Valenzuela never gave him any projects and ignored his requests to return his money.

In response, Valenzuela told Yacaman that he was “messing with the wrong person” and that he planned “to talk to [his] people.” Valenzuela started to make telephone calls, and Yacaman exclaimed, “So now you want to kill me? .... [Y]ou robbed my money and now you want to kill me.” Yacaman once again told Valenzuela's companions that the former minister had “betrayed” him by reneging on a promise to award him government projects:

[T]he thing is that [Valenzuela] betrayed me, he was going to give me several projects that I would direct, but he never gave me nothing[.] I have asked him to return my money in different ways, he never takes my calls, he changed his cell phone number and I am tired of asking him to return what he robbed from me.

Yacaman returned to his table, but he later approached Valenzuela again. Yacaman exclaimed, “Look Roland ... you are going to pay me, you are going to pay me, you ... son of a bitch ... you already have been mourned in life, you are a dead man.” As Valenzuela turned to leave the restaurant, Yacaman shot him in the neck.

Yacaman fled. He entered the United States, and on September 10, 2010, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him in Miami, Florida.

At the request of the Honduran government, the United States filed a complaint for the extradition of Yacaman, under the 1909 Extradition Treaty between the United States and Honduras, as modified by the 1927 Supplementary Extradition Convention. The complaint alleged that Honduran authorities had charged Yacaman with murder, that the homicide took place in Honduras, and that a Honduran judge had issued a warrant for Yacaman's arrest. In a memorandum in support of its complaint, the government explained that an extradition certification “is in order” when the court has the power to conduct the extradition proceeding; the court has jurisdiction over the fugitive; the applicable treaty is in full force and effect; the crimes for which surrender is requested are covered by the applicable treaty; and there exists sufficient evidence to support a finding of probable cause as to each charge for which extradition is sought. The government asserted that, under the rule of judicial non-inquiry and by federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3186 (2006), the Secretary of State has the sole discretion to consider whether a request for extradition should be denied on humanitarian grounds. The government attached the sworn declaration of an attorney adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser for the Department of State who attested that, in accordance with the extradition treaty, which was in “full force and effect,” the Embassy of Honduras had submitted a diplomatic note which requested Yacaman's extradition, and the request related a charge covered by the extradition treaty.

Yacaman opposed the request for his extradition on three grounds. First, Yacaman argued that the murder of Valenzuela constituted a political offense and that the extradition treaty expressly excluded crimes of a political nature as a basis for extradition. Second, he asserted that the magistrate judge lacked the authority to order his extradition because there was no valid extradition agreement between Honduras and the United States. Third, he asserted that the Honduran government could not guarantee his safety if he were returned to Honduras.

After hearing argument from both sides and from an expert witness proffered by Yacaman, the magistrate judge entered a certification of extraditability and an order of commitment directed to the United States Department of State. The magistrate judge concluded that the certification was in order and that the murder “was not political in nature, since the offense occurred well after the coup in Honduras and was not incidental to it.” The magistrate judge refused to consider whether to deny the extradition on humanitarian grounds because the Secretary of State had the sole discretion to make that decision.

Yacaman moved the magistrate judge to stay the issuance of the certification of extraditability. The...