Garcia v. State

OPINION

By the Court, Rose, J.:

SUMMARY

This case presents the issue of whether a foreign national who was not informed of his consular notification rights after being arrested as required by Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (“Vienna Convention”) may suppress his post-arrest statements. Based on the express provisions of the treaty and the State Department’s interpretation of the treaty, we conclude that an Article 36 violation is not of such fundamental or constitutional importance that application of the exclusionary rule is warranted.

FACTS

On July 26, 1998, several…