U.S. Appellate Court Overturns Life Imprisonment, Citing Specialty Violation

On January 22, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a pre curiam opinion reversing district court denial of a habeas corpus petition brought by a man challenging his life imprisonment based on the terms of Venezuelan extradition order. Cristobal Rodriguez Benitez, a Mexican national, was arrested in Venezuela and extradited to the U.S, where he was convicted of murder and sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of fifteen years to life. Thereafter, he petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that his sentence could not exceed thirty years because of a sentence limitation contained in the extradition order from the Supreme Court of Venezuela and the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The district court denied his petition and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard the appeal … [more]