Thread: Texas parole board won't stop Mexican's execution

Texas parole board won't stop Mexican's execution

MICHAEL GRACZYK,Associated Press
Posted: 07/05/2011 08:23:01 PM MDT

HOUSTON (AP) - The Texas parole board refused Tuesday to stop this week's scheduled execution of a Mexican national for raping and killing a 16-year-old girl, while the state attorney general's office said appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court from the man's attorneys were without merit.

Humberto Leal, 38, faced lethal injection Thursday in Huntsville for the 1994 slaying of Adria Sauceda of San Antonio. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 4-1 to deny a reprieve request. The same panel refused by a 5-0 vote to commute Leal's death sentence to life in prison.

His scheduled execution has raised diplomatic concerns involving the government of Mexico, the State Department and the White House. All of them have agreed with Leal's attorneys that he should be spared because of questions about whether the outcome of his trial would have been different if he had been allowed to obtain legal help from the Mexican consulate when he was arrested.

Similar 11th-hour arguments were raised in recent years for at least one other condemned Texas prisoner. In that case, in 2008, Jose Medellin was executed for his participation in the rape and slayings of two Houston teenage girls.

"At this point, it is clear that Leal is attempting to avoid execution by overwhelming the state and the courts with as many meritless lawsuits and motions as humanly possible," Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general, told the court Tuesday in a brief opposing appeals to stop Leal's execution.

Leal's appeals, already rejected by Texas courts and lower federal courts, focused on a bill introduced last month by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, that would allow the federal courts to review cases like Leal's where violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Rights is an issue.

"If Texas were to proceed with the scheduled execution of Mr. Leal ... there could be no dispute that that execution would be unlawful - specifically, in violation of treaty commitments validly made by the United States through constitutionally prescribed processes," Sandra Babcock, a Northwestern University law professor who is one of Leal's attorneys, said last week in her appeal to the court.

"Texas, by insisting on executing Mr. Leal before Congress has had a chance to act, seeks to break the United States' promise," Babcock said.

Hoffman said two previous congressional attempts with similar legislation have failed and Leal's claim that it would pass this session "is pure speculation."

He said a bill was not a federal law, most bills introduced never become law and for the high court to issue a reprieve to extend through January and the remainder of the congressional session, as Leal's attorneys were seeking, would be "remarkable under any circumstances."

"At this point, it is painfully clear that Congress will not act to pass legislation to provide Leal with the relief that he seeks," Hoffman said.

Leal was about a year and a half old when his parents moved from Monterrey, Mexico, to San Antonio.

He was among about 50 Mexican-born inmates affected when President George W. Bush in 2005 agreed with an International Court of Justice ruling that they should be entitled to new hearings in U.S. courts to determine if their consular rights were violated at the time of their arrests. Congressional action is needed now because the Supreme Court subsequently overruled Bush and negated any impact of the Netherlands-based court's decision.

"Texas is not bound by a foreign court's ruling," Katherine Cesinger, Gov. Rick Perry's press secretary, said Tuesday.

Perry could have accepted a clemency ruling favorable to Leal from the parole board, whose members he appoints. Without that, however, he is left only with authority to issue a one-time 30-day reprieve. Cesinger said Perry has made no decision since Leal's case was still before the Supreme Court.

"That said, if you commit the most heinous of crimes in Texas, you can expect to face the ultimate penalty under our laws, as in this case," she said.

Sauceda was found beaten with a 30- to 40-pound piece of rock, strangled and raped. A piece of wood more than foot long, with a screw protruding from one end, was left in her.

Leal was identified as the last person seen with her when he took her from a party. A witness testified that Leal's brother appeared at the party, agitated that Leal had arrived home bloody and saying he had killed a girl. Leal gave at least two different statements to detectives but denied he killed Sauceda.

He said she fought with him in his car and scratched him. He said when he pushed back he felt something wet on the back of her head and fled in fear.

Her blouse was recovered from Leal's home. There was evidence his car had been wiped clean of blood. A bite mark on Sauceda was matched to Leal and Bexar County jurors were told he'd raped a woman earlier and left a bite mark on that victim.

Leal's lawyers said it wasn't until he already was on death row that he learned from a fellow inmate that he could have sought legal help from the Mexican consulate.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_18412244

Sauceda was found beaten with a 30- to 40-pound piece of rock, strangled and raped. A piece of wood more than foot long, with a screw protruding from one end, was left in her.

Lethal injection is too damn easy for this animal!

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 4-1 to deny a reprieve request. The same panel refused by a 5-0 vote to commute Leal's death sentence to life in prison.

Good for Texas!

He has been on Death Row for over 17 damn years and NOW they want to try and stop it at the last second? Pfffft

No way...He has had 17 years too many already. Dont give him an extra minute on this Earth.

Originally Posted by nomas

Sauceda was found beaten with a 30- to 40-pound piece of rock, strangled and raped. A piece of wood more than foot long, with a screw protruding from one end, was left in her.

Lethal injection is too damn easy for this animal!

[quote:28wintyt]The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 4-1 to deny a reprieve request. The same panel refused by a 5-0 vote to commute Leal's death sentence to life in prison.

Good for Texas![/quote:28wintyt]

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"I have said that Mexico does not stop at its border, that wherever there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."

Mexican President Felipe Calderón