Denver officials said Saturday night they want the suspect in the killing of police Detective Donald Young tried in Denver.
But the task of bringing him from Mexico to Denver could involve months of delicate negotiations with Mexican authorities, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey warned.
“My concern is that this is not going to be a quick situation,” Morrissey said. “It might take months, even a year.”
One key problem is that Mexico does not return fugitives captured in Mexico if U.S. prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty or if the suspect faces life in prison without chance of parole.
Despite that, Morrissey said he intends to get Raul Garcia-Gomez, 20, “back here as soon as possible.”
Morrissey said he has not decided what charges would be filed against Garcia-Gomez or if he would seek the death penalty. He would not address whether he would be willing to reduce charges against Garcia-Gomez to ensure his extradition but said he doubts that Garcia-Gomez will be executed.
Morrissey said he spoke with Young’s widow, Kelly, shortly after the May 8 fatal shooting of her husband and again Saturday evening, shortly after Garcia-Gomez was captured in Culiacán, Mexico.
On both occasions, he said, Kelly Young stressed that she wants her husband’s killer tried in Denver.
Morrissey said his office has been working closely with the U.S. State Department. Department officials have been putting in long hours in recent weeks helping the Denver DA’s office prepare the extradition documents necessary to return Garcia-Gomez to the United States, Morrissey said.
“We will continue to negotiate with whoever we have to to get him back here,” the DA said.
Morrissey noted that the DA’s office has been in negotiations with Argentina since September for the return of Kurt Sonnenfeld, 41, who is accused of killing his wife Nancy, 36, in Denver in 2002.
He said that the negotiations with Argentina are less complicated because that country has less reluctance than Mexico in returning U.S. fugitives.
Morrissey said there is a possibility that Young’s alleged killer could be tried in Mexico. Mexico does have a death-penalty law but hasn’t executed anyone since 1937.
Morrissey said he may send Assistant Denver District Attorney Chuck Lepley to Mexico City to assist in the investigation and legal procedures.
If Garcia-Gomez is not extradited, Denver police and prosecutors might invoke Article IV of Mexico’s penal code and have him tried in a federal court in Mexico. Under Article IV, Denver police and prosecutors would prepare evidence in Spanish, and lawyers from the Mexican attorney general’s office would file a case in a Mexican court. If convicted, Garcia-Gomez would be sentenced to serve time in a Mexican prison.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
