Thread: Killer Claims International Law Should Save Him

Killer Claims International Law Should Save Him

Thu Sep 27, 7:25 PM ET

An unusual death row fight is under way on behalf of a Honduran resident who killed a Texas man in 2001, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

Heliberto Chi, 28, has a date with the Texas death chamber on Wednesday.

Chi was convicted of killing an Arlington clothing store manager and wounding another employee during a robbery on March 24, 2001.

Captured in California, he was extradited back to Texas, where a Tarrant County jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

But his attorneys said the Honduran government was never notified as required by international treaty.

The Honduran Counsel General recorded an interview with Chi on death row.

"When I was extradited to the city of Fort Worth, Texas, I was asking if I could communicate," Chi said.

Houston attorney Terry O'Rourke has been hired by the Honduran government to make a last-minute appeal.

"They should have called the consulate in California and said we got your guy. We're going to extradite him to Texas. The consulate could have made a decision there," O'Rourke said.

Honduran officials are flying into Houston Thursday night to meet with O'Rourke.

On Friday, they will go to Austin for meetings with the governor's staff and the board of pardons and paroles.

What they're asking for is simple.

"Just don't kill him in violation of international law. That's all," O'Rourke said.

Honduras wants Chi's sentence commuted to life in prison. If they're successful, it will be the first time a death row appeal based on international law has ever been successful in Texas.


http://www.click2houston.com/news/14222208/detail.html

Are they willing to reimburse the U.S. for the cost of us taking care of him for the rest of his life???????

Go Texas! Smoke him!