Rule of Law: Confessed suspect's murder acquittal throws Mexico's judicial reform into doubt

One of the huge transformations going on in Mexico is that of its judicial system. The centuries old, easily corrupted and dysfunctional "inquistional system" of closed trials - where a judge just reviews documents and decides on innocence or guilt - is being changed.

In the new system, being implemented state by state by 2016, trials are public, witnesses give oral testimony in response to lawyer's'questions, there are rules of evidence - including how confessions are obtained - and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. There are no juries. Judges still decide the outcome.

Here is an in-depth look at a higly visible case, tried under the new system, that has brought the basic problems of the judicial system to the fore in Mexico.

The Canadian Press: Confessed suspect's murder acquittal throws Mexico's judicial reform into doubt: "The trial in the murder of a 16-year-old girl found burned in a trash pile was supposed to showcase U.S.-backed reforms to Mexico's secretive justice system: Three judges, in the presence of the victim's family, the defendant and their lawyers would announce their verdict in open court.

Instead, it became a rallying cry against impunity in a country where the vast majority of crimes still are not prosecuted. The victim's mother wailed 'No!' as the panel absolved defendant Sergio Barraza of murdering his live-in girlfriend, even though he had told at least half a dozen people that he killed her and described where he dumped her body.

Now, what has become known as the Rubi case has put Mexico's judicial reform on trial and has the entire country talking.

The judges, who were suspended and face impeachment, said they followed the law, which has strict standards for evidence. Mexico's old system, still in place in many parts of the country, fostered corruption and confessions extracted by torture. The now widely condemned judges say the new system failed only because underfunded and ill-trained investigators and police failed to build a case. They had to throw out what they called large amounts of circumstantial or illegally obtained evidence." Jan. 12, 2011