Bermuda has reserved the right to deny assistance to America in criminal cases where the latter is seeking the death penalty, a US Senate committee heard this week.The two countries signed a mutual legal assistance treaty to tackle money launderers, drug traffickers and terrorists in January 2009, which US senators are now being asked to endorse.At a meeting on Tuesday of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz said Bermuda interpreted article three of the treaty to mean it could “deny assistance in capital cases where the sentence includes possible death penalty”.He added: “The United States does not agree with that interpretation of article three. Nonetheless, we believe that we will be able to resolve and we hope that we will be able to resolve these matters on a case-by-case basis, as we have done with other jurisdictions.”Mr Swartz said other countries entering into mutual legal assistance treaties with the US had made the same interpretation of article three, which states a request for help can be refused if to grant it would be “contrary to important public policy”.He added: “We have been able to work out arrangements in a number of cases that allows us to obtain evidence or discuss whether the evidence is significant enough to go forward with some kind of further steps being taken.”Cliff Johnson, assistant legal adviser for law enforcement and intelligence in the Department of State, said the reason the treaty took as long as it did to negotiate was because it was important for the US to ensure there wasn’t an “express prohibition” on Bermuda offering assistance in capital cases.He said other countries with similar provisions had still been able to help with, for example, the “non-penalty phase” of a trial and it was hoped similar arrangements could be worked out with Bermuda.Senator Ben Cardin, presiding over the session, noted the Island would not be in violation of the treaty if it refused to help the US in a case where prosecutors were clearly seeking the death penalty.Mr Swartz said before Bermuda could make such a decision there would have to be consultation with the US. He added with other countries it was often the case evidence could still be produced.Sen Cardin said it would be useful for the committee to have information on how the provision worked with other jurisdictions.“In introducing this line of questioning, I certainly understand why Bermuda insisted upon this type of provision,” he said.The Democrat said the committee needed to understand the “challenges that are placed in law enforcement because of the inconsistencies of the US with the international community on penalties”.The meeting also heard Bermuda opted not to accept oral requests for assistance, only written ones. Mr Swartz said cooperation between the two countries was very good and the refusal to accept non-written requests wasn’t expected to be a problem. The Premier’s press secretary said last night: "We have referred your inquiry to the Attorney General's Chambers for comment - our Chambers negotiated the treaty with the US Department of Justice. We shall revert in due course following review of the full comment of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee."The hearing can be viewed online at http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/hearing/?id=2efe95c5-5056-a032-5267-1ae0c0faf7ec. The treaty is at http://foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/treaty111-6.pdf.