Appeals court: Feds lacked authority to arrest Mexican doctor

By KIM CURTIS
Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Federal drug agents lacked authority to arrest and detain a Mexican doctor in connection with the 1985 kidnapping and murder of an U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Mexico, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Humberto Alvarez-Machain, who was kidnapped in 1990 by Mexican nationals at the request of the DEA, was illegally arrested and detained. He's also entitled to seek relief under the Federal Tort Claims Act and is eligible for monetary damages, the appeals court said in its 6-5 decision.

In February 1985, DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena-Salazar was abducted and brought to a house in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he was tortured and killed. Alvarez, a Mexican citizen and doctor who practiced in Guadalajara, was at the house at the time of the slaying.

Five years later, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Alvarez for his alleged involvement in the agent's death. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

The United States negotiated with Mexico to take custody of Alvarez, but made no formal extradition request. Instead, DEA officials approved the use of Mexican nationals, including a former Mexican police officer, to arrest Alvarez and bring him to the United States.

In April 1990, Alvarez was abducted from his office, held overnight in a motel and flown the next day to El Paso, Texas, where federal agents arrested him. He was later arraigned and taken to Los Angeles to stand trial.

Alvarez sought dismissal of his charges, arguing that federal courts lacked jurisdiction. Two lower courts agreed, but were overruled by the Supreme Court. Alvarez remained in federal custody from April 1990 until December 1992.

In 1992, Alvarez was tried and acquitted because of a lack of evidence.

The following year, he sued the Mexican civilians, the United States and several DEA agents, alleging kidnapping, torture, assault and false imprisonment among other things.

A lower court decided Alvarez could recover damages under the Alien Tort Claims Act only for his detention in Mexico prior to his arrival in Texas. The court used U.S. law, rather than Mexican law, to calculate damages and awarded Alvarez $25,000.

The federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld those decisions.

The lower court, however, disagreed with Alvarez's allegations of false arrest under the Federal Tort Claims Act. It said Alvarez's apprehension was privileged and was not a false arrest under California law.

The appeals court on Tuesday disagreed and remanded the case back to district court.

``There was, quite simply, no basis in law for the unilateral extraterritorial arrest and related detention of Alvarez in Mexico,'' Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote for the court.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)