The Death Penalty in Puerto Rico

History of the Death Penalty

Capital pun­ish­ment was used dur­ing the Spanish regime. The first ver­i­fied exe­cu­tions took place in 1514, when four slaves were hanged for upris­ing. The first Inquisition court in the west­ern hemi­sphere was estab­lished in San Juan in 1519.

The num­ber of per­sons exe­cut­ed in Puerto Rico is:

(Source: Jalil Sued-Badillo, PhD., La Pena de Muerte en Puerto Rico: Retrospectiva históri­ca para una reflex­ión con­tem­poránea, Puerto Rico, 2000.)

The mod­ern death penal­ty was intro­duced to Puerto Rico in 1898 by the incom­ing American gov­ern­ment estab­lished when Spain turned Puerto Rico over to the United States fol­low­ing the Spanish American War. Puerto Rico abol­ished the death penal­ty in 1929, two years after their last exe­cu­tion. In 1952, when Puerto Rico draft­ed and rat­i­fied their own con­sti­tu­tion, the Bill of Rights includ­ed the straight­for­ward decree ​“the death penal­ty shall not exist.” Because of Puerto Rico’s sta­tus as a Commonwealth of the United States, it is sub­ject to some fed­er­al laws, and the U.S. has recent­ly sought the death penal­ty on fed­er­al charges in a num­ber of cas­es. However, no death sen­tences have result­ed. (Orlando Sentinel, July 13, 2003).

Related Links to the Death Penalty in Puerto Rico

• DPIC’s Page on the Federal Death Penalty
• DPIC’s Spanish Language Section

Recent Developments in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rican Court Bars Extradition of Man Facing Death Penalty to Pennsylvania

An Appeal Court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico recent­ly held that it would be uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to extra­dite Juan Melendez Cruz to Pennsylvania if he faces a pos­si­ble death sen­tence. The court referred to the issue as one involv­ing the fun­da­men­tal right to life. In July 2003, Philadelphia District Attorney spokes­woman Cathie Abookire con­firmed that Melendez Cruz, a Puerto Rican native, could face the death penal­ty in Pennsylvania. Melendez Cruz’s attor­ney, Eileen Diaz, argued that extra­di­tion of her client under such cir­cum­stances is pro­hib­it­ed by the Puerto Rican con­sti­tu­tion. The Attorney General of Puerto Rico plans to appeal the deci­sion to the Puerto Rican Supreme Court. (Primera Hora, ​“Apelativo rat­i­fi­ca rec­ha­zo a pena cap­i­tal: Extradicion suje­ta a garan­tia de vida del reo,” October 21, 2005).

Puerto Rico abol­ished the death penal­ty in 1929. In 1952, when Puerto Rico draft­ed and rat­i­fied its own con­sti­tu­tion, the Bill of Rights includ­ed the decree that ​“the death penal­ty shall not exist.” Because of Puerto Rico’s sta­tus as a Commonwealth of the United States, it is sub­ject to some fed­er­al laws, and the U.S. has recent­ly sought the death penal­ty on fed­er­al charges in a num­ber of cas­es. However, no death sen­tences have resulted.

Federal Death Penalty Case in Puerto Rico Prompts Protests 

Despite the fact that the Constitution defin­ing Puerto Rico’s sta­tus as a self-gov­ern­ing com­mon­wealth asso­ci­at­ed with the United States uncon­di­tion­al­ly bans cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, the U.S. is seek­ing the fed­er­al death penal­ty in the tri­al of two Puerto Rican men. The tri­al has spurred grass-root protests against the death penal­ty. Gov. Sila M. Calderon, the Commonwealth’s top elect­ed offi­cial, said the case demon­strates the need to fur­ther reform the U.S. — Puerto Rican rela­tion­ship, espe­cial­ly in regard to fed­er­al laws ​“that infringe on our cul­ture, our own laws and our cus­toms.” Arturo Luis Davila Toro, pres­i­dent of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, reit­er­at­ed her con­cerns, stat­ing, ​“We don’t believe in cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, and they are try­ing to impose it on us.” Jury selec­tion for the tri­al took place last week at the U.S. District Court in San Juan. (Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2003). 

The tri­al end­ed on July 31, 2003 when Joel Rivera Alejandro and Hector Oscar Acosta-Martinez were acquit­ted of all charges by the jury. It was not clear whether the ques­tion of fed­er­al juris­dic­tion and the death penal­ty affect­ed the jury’s deci­sion. William Matthewman, attor­ney for Mr. Acosta-Martinez, said that impos­ing the death penal­ty upon Puerto Rico ​“is like pour­ing oil on one of their beau­ti­ful beach­es.” Despite this con­flict, Matthewman believes that it was a lack of evi­dence (includ­ing over 200 sam­ples of DNA not match­ing his client) that led to the acquit­tal. (New York Times, August 1, 2003)

Court Rules Death Penalty Applies in Puerto Rico 

A fed­er­al appeals court in Boston held that the fed­er­al death penal­ty applies in Puerto Rico. The rul­ing over­turns a dis­trict court deci­sion last year that held the death penal­ty could not apply because cit­i­zens of Puerto Rico can­not vote in Congressional elec­tions, and thus have no voice on the issue. (Miami Herald, June 6, 2001)

Judge Rules Puerto Rico Not Subject to Federal Death Penalty 

U.S. District Judge Salvador Casellas ruled that the fed­er­al death penal­ty can­not be applied in Puerto Rico because res­i­dents there have no vot­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tion in Congress, which passed laws rein­stat­ing the fed­er­al death penal­ty. ​“It shocks the con­science to impose the ulti­mate penal­ty, death, upon American cit­i­zens who are denied the right to par­tic­i­pate direct­ly or indi­rect­ly in the gov­ern­ment that enacts and autho­rizes the impo­si­tion of such pun­ish­ment,” wrote Casellas. U.S. Attorney Guillermo Gil said his office will ask the solic­i­tor gen­er­al to appeal. Puerto Rico’s Constitution pro­hibits the use of the death penal­ty, and the U.S. ter­ri­to­ry has not exe­cut­ed any­body in 73 years. (Orlando Sentinel, July 19, 2000)

In 1997, Puerto Rican Representative Jorge de Castro, a mem­ber of the Popular Democratic Party, sub­mit­ted a res­o­lu­tion in the territory´s leg­is­la­ture request­ing the US Attorney General to declare Puerto Rico exempt from the death penal­ty. And the Reverend Moses Rosa, exec­u­tive sec­re­tary of Puerto Rico´s Evangelical Council, was quot­ed by Reuters news agency as point­ing out that ​“both the Catholic and Protestant church­es have strong­ly opposed the death penal­ty through­out the last cen­tu­ry. That has only solid­i­fied the Puerto Rican con­scious­ness against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment.” But mem­bers of the rul­ing New Progressive Party, which seeks state­hood for Puerto Rico, claim that the Puerto Rican con­sti­tu­tion is a fed­er­al doc­u­ment and that there is noth­ing to pre­vent fed­er­al impo­si­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the ter­ri­to­ry. (Amnesty International, March 1997)