This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Oscar Garcia wakes up every day thinking about his baby daughter.
Then, Garcia said, he thinks about the woman accused of running over her.
"She took my daughter's life," Garcia said. "I can't bring that back, but at least I can get some closure."
Not anytime soon. The Mexican government is refusing to extradite the driver suspected of killing 1-year-old Vicsayra Garcia earlier this year in Taylorsville.
"It surprises us because it was a death and it is a serious offense here," said U.S. Marshal Jim Thompson.
Gloria Campos-Campos, 31, is charged in state court in Salt Lake City with a count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident and a count of obstruction of justice.
They are felonies that each carry up to five years in prison.
Also, the Utah attorney general has charged Campos-Campos with public assistance fraud, which caries a possibility of 15 years in prison.
Thompson said the U.S. Marshals Service, which takes charge of extraditing a citizen of a foreign country, went through the Mexican process of extradition, including obtaining a Mexican warrant.
Yet the Mexican government decided not to release her to U.S. authorities.
"They just don't recognize it as [an] extraditable offense," Thompson said.
The Mexican consul in Salt Lake City did not return a message seeking comment on Monday.
In recent months, the U.S. government has praised Mexico for improved cooperation in capturing and extraditing drug kingpins wanted in the United States.
Other Utah police departments also have been successful in extraditing homicide suspects from Mexico, including one suspect in the 2007 murder of salon owner Faviola Hernandez in Salt Lake City.
Edwin Smith, a professor of international law and international relations and political science at the University of Southern California, said in all international extradition treaties the offense must be a crime in both countries for extradition to occur. The charges against Campos-Campos may not be crimes, or not serious crimes, in Mexico, Smith said.
"A Utah crime for which you must seek somebody in Mexico also has to be a crime in Mexico," Smith said.
Vicsayra died July 23. According to Taylorsville police, Vicsayra was hit by a minivan making a U-turn as the girl was standing on the curb outside her home in the Majestic Oaks neighborhood.
Court documents name Campos-Campos as the driver. The documents claim Campos-Campos did not know until the next day she had run over the child.
Campos-Campos and her husband then abandoned the van and fled to California, the documents say.
It is unclear when Campos-Campos arrived in Mexico.
In the fraud case, the attorney general claims Campos-Campos received $15,154 in cash assistance and food stamps without disclosing that she was living with a man who was employed.
Taylorsville police Sgt. Tracy Wyant said there are arrest warrants for Campos-Campos.
If she returns to the United States, police can arrest her, and Taylorsville police would seek to extradite her to Utah.
"I guess if she stays down there indefinitely, the warrants will stay active," Wyant said.
Garcia said he's furious at the Mexican government and says that country should be interested in justice, too.
"She knew what she did," Garcia said. "That's why she fled to Mexico, and she knows she's in trouble."