Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

(C)

Client’s Consulate.  Consular officials can often be of great assistance to the foreign national, and to defense counsel, in such matters as arranging foreign investigation, letters rogatory, assistance from foreign courts.  They can provide a great deal of other assistance as well, so counsel is wise to establish and maintain good relations with the consulate of the client’s country of origin.  Consular officials can assist in client relations, including explaining the role of the attorney, the nature of the proceedings, and in reassuring the client.  Their credibility may be greater than that of counsel, because of their cultural, ethnic, and language relationship with the client.  Consular officials can monitor the progress of the case, to ensure that the client receives appropriate procedural protections, and intervene in the proceedings if necessary.  Consular officials can explain the right to remain silent, and its importance, to the client.  Consular officials can assist counsel to contact the client’s family in the home country, and transmit messages to them.  They can obtain special jail visits, and document any injuries suffered by the client in custody.  They can assist in ensuring the adequacy of physical conditions of detention. They can assist in obtaining medical, educational, criminal, and other records from the home country.  They can alert counsel to possible cultural differences and areas of misunderstanding between counsel and client.

            Consular officials can provide a letter of introduction to investigators travelling to the home country, which can be very helpful in ensuring cooperation of officials and gaining access to relevant documents.  They can help to locate witnesses, obtain local guides, and provide information and assistance with transportation.  They can assist in arranging travel by witnesses to the United States to testify in criminal proceedings.  They can provide referrals to ethnoculturally competent experts who can help counsel understand the client’s world.