The Execution of Two Foreign Nationals: The Case of Karl and Walter LaGrand

Abstract

The tension between implementation of criminal justice policy and national treaty commitments arose again when Arizona convicted two brothers of German nationality and sentenced them to death. Germany took the case of Karl and Walter LaGrand, specifically the denial of their rights under the Vienna Convention, to the ICJ. As Howard Schiffman notes, Breard, Faulder, and LaGrand all highlight the conflict between US law and practice and the nation’s treaty obligations and international law.¹ Even more importantly, he described the LaGrand case as a “dispute of international magnitude,” and predicted that its legacy would affect death penalty cases in both domestic and international law where the VCCR is applicable.² LaGrand raised, in the ICJ, the meaning of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention, including whether the rights identified there applied to individual defendants or only to the sending state and its representatives. The LaGrand case before the ICJ further addressed the matter of what remedies were appropriate if the Vienna Convention was violated. Should individuals have recourse in the courts or was an apology between the nations involved a sufficient response?