LL.M. student fights for imprisoned client
In April 2008, attorney Yuriria Marván Santín LL.M. ’12 was living in her native Mexico City when the Department of Foreign Affairs of the State of Mexico called. They needed her to assist a Mexican national who had been sentenced by a court in Austin, Tex., to 99 years in prison.
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| Yuriria Marván LL.M. '12 addressing an International Migration and Human Trafficking Seminar in Chiapas, MX, last March. |
The national, Rosa Estela Olera Jiménez, had been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a 21-month-old boy for whom she had been a nanny. Marván was asked to review the case to see if there were any legal avenues toward helping Jiménez. As the former coordinator of the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program within the Foreign Ministry’s Protection Department, Marván had deep experience assisting Mexican nationals facing criminal charges in the U.S.
In reviewing the case, Marván says she was “shocked” by the way the trial was handled.
“It was pretty obvious that the public defender who represented Jiménez didn’t have sufficient funds to hire appropriate experts that could prove her innocence,” Marván says.
According to Marván, the prosecutor had offered seven expert witnesses, while Jiménez’s attorney was able to offer only one.
“Attorneys can be ineffective with my clients for several reasons,” she says. “One is not being able to communicate appropriately and understand what the client’s competence is. There is not only a huge language gap but also a cultural one.”
In her role as a freelance mitigation specialist, Marván addresses these challenges by serving as a cultural bridge between the clients and the attorneys.
“I do believe there is a huge need to help people in these kinds of cases,” she says.
Marván says that after meeting Jiménez and reviewing her case, she found her client extremely sympathetic.
According to Marván, Jiménez was baby-sitting the child when she saw he was choking on a wad of paper towels. She called 911 and a neighbor to help, but it took several minutes to remove the obstruction. After spending a week in the hospital, the boy, who had suffered brain damage, was transferred to a hospice, where he died a few months later.
“It’s a really sad story,” Marván says. “It’s a case of two tragic accidents – a child who died, and an innocent person who is now in prison.”
In addition to inadequate representation, Marván says that her client, like many Mexican nationals in the U.S., was unaware of her rights during her initial interview by the police, which lasted seven hours.
“She didn’t know to ask for a lawyer,” Marván says.
After reviewing the court transcripts, Marván built a legal team with attorney Bryce Benjet of Hull Henricks LLP in Austin. She hired qualified experts who, after reviewing the medical information, said there was no evidence to indicate homicide. She and Benjet then filed a writ of habeas corpus with Texas’ 29th district court, and after an evidentiary hearing in December 2010, a judge recommended a new trial for Jiménez.
The Texas Court of Appeals is reviewing the case. Just last month, Marván and Benjet filed a brief contending that Jiménez was denied due process and effective assistance of counsel under Ake v. Oklahoma and Strickland v. Washington. The court is expected to issue a ruling later this year.
In the meantime, Marván continues her school work full-time, learning more about the American legal system in USC Law’s LL.M. program. She says classes like Evidence and Criminal Procedure have been particularly interesting – and especially relevant for the work she intends to do when she graduates. She plans to take the California bar exam in July so she can begin representing clients directly.
“Yuriria is going to be able to serve a population that is badly in need of skilled lawyers who have that cultural competence,” Benjet says. “It’s inspiring she’s decided to devote her career and unique set of skills and perspectives to working on these cases."
A commitment to helping others – and to the law – runs in Marván’s blood. Most of her family members are attorneys; she was the first woman in her family to earn a law degree.
“We don’t know anything else!” she jokes.
Wherever her work takes her, she knows she will continue to travel between Mexico and the U.S.
“My job will always be bilateral,” she says. “I will always be working for Mexican nationals.”
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