By: Joe Strupp The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) has requested U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to intervene in the case of Philip True, the
San Antonio Express-News reporter who died while on assignment in Mexico in 1998, after a Mexican judge unexpectedly freed the two men accused of killing him.
"The attention of the United States to this case is extremely important," said ASNE President Tim McGuire.
Recently, Colotlan Municipal Judge Jose Luis Reyes Contreras ruled that True, 50, had died not from strangulation but from a fall. He then ordered the Aug. 3 release of the two suspects, Juan Chivarra de la Cruz and Miguel Hernandez de la Cruz.
The judge dismissed confessions the suspects had made to police, as well as autopsy results indicating that True died of strangulation. Prosecutors have appealed the judge?s ruling.
The release of the suspects also brought objections by
Express-News staff, especially Executive Editor Robert Rivard, who has a strong interest in the case. "The entire nature of the action is suspicious," Rivard told
E&P. "Justice was subverted."
Rivard and True?s widow, Martha, planned to launch an effort to reopen the case last week with a trip to Mexico City, where they intended to lobby U.S. and Mexican officials.
In their now-recanted confessions, the suspects said they killed True because he?d been taking photographs of sacred land. In later interviews with the
Express-News, they denied killing True, but said they had asked him to stop taking photographs.
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