United States v. Alvarez-Machain
United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U.S. 655, was a Supreme Court of the [United States|United States Supreme Court] case in which the Court held that the respondent's forcible abduction from a foreign country, despite the existence of an extradition treaty with said country, does not prohibit him from being tried before a U.S. court for violations of American criminal laws. The ruling reconfirmed the Ker-Frisbie Doctrine, established in Ker v. Illinois and Frisbie v. Collins, which generally permits the prosecution of criminal defendants regardless of whether their presence was obtained in accordance with an applicable extradition treaty.
Background
Humberto Álvarez Machaín, a Mexican physician, was allegedly involved in the 1985 kidnapping, torture, and murder of Enrique Camarena Salazar, an American citizen employed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, by "prolonging life so that others could further torture and interrogate him."On April 2, 1990, Álvarez was abducted from Mexico by Trent Tompkins, a U.S. citizen hired by DEA agents, and brought to trial in the United States over the protest of Mexican officials.
Legal action reached the Supreme Court, focusing upon the effect of illegal extradition upon the trial court's jurisdiction. Invoking the "Ker–Frisbie doctrine" the Court held that the trial court's jurisdiction was not affected by the manner in which the accused was brought before it. This created international alarm and concern as other nations feared that the decision would encourage further such abductions.