Thread: Obama Administration seeks to halt Texas execution of illega

Obama Administration seeks to halt Texas execution of Mexican national, Humberto Leal Garcia

BY Aliyah Shahid
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, July 2nd 2011, 11:43 AM



The Obama Administration is taking the unusual step of trying to halt the execution of a Mexican citizen who has been sentenced to die for the brutal kidnapping, rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl more than 16 years ago.

U.S. authorities want to delay Humberto Leal Garcia's execution --scheduled for Thursday -- for up to six months to give Congress time to consider legislation that would directly affect his case.

The federal government rarely intervenes in state death penalty cases.

Leal, a 38-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico, wasn't told he could contact the Mexican consulate after his arrest-something his lawyer's argue is mandatory under international law.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has also appealed to Texas Gov. Rick Perry to call off the lethal injection.

"The lack of consular assistance and advice raises concerns about whether or not Mr. Leal Garcia's right to a fair trial was fully upheld," said Rupert Colville, Pillay's spokesman.

The legislation would allow federal courts to review cases of condemned foreign nationals.

Last week, a U.S. District judge refused to stop the execution, and earlier this week the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Leal's appeal and motion for a stay of execution.

Leal, who has lived in the United States since he was two years old, was sentenced to death in the 1994 rape and killing of Adria Sauceda of San Antonio.

The two met at a party, and at some point the teen, who was intoxicated, was placed in Leal's car and the two drove off.

A half hour later, Leal's brother showed up at the party and yelled that Leal had arrived home with blood on him, saying he had killed a girl. Police found Sauceda's nude body on a dirt road.

She was strangled and had bite marks on her body that matched Leal's teeth, according to prosecutors.

Leal is one of 51 Mexican nationals on death row in the U.S. who were never informed of their rights, according to the International Court of Justice.

The Obama Administration says in a 30-page brief that going ahead with the execution would result in “irreparable harm.â€

Dont you dare halt this execution. He has been waiting far too long for it.

Ya, the show MUST go on.

Ya know if mexico had the death penalty, maybe there wouldn't be so many dead people just lying around that whole country like it's nothing to them!

Hope Perry tells Obamadenijad to stick it where the sun don't shine.

He has had 16 years to many to get this issue resolved,no more excuses, so go ahead and kill the mad dog . Stick it to him !

related

Obama tries to stop execution in Texas of Mexican killer
US president warns Texan authorities that execution would put America in breach of international legal obligations

President Barack Obama is attempting to block the execution in Texas on Thursday of a Mexican man because it would breach an international convention and do "irreparable harm" to US interests.

The White House has asked the US supreme court to put the execution of Humberto Leal Garcia on hold while Congress passes a law that would prevent the convicted rapist and murderer from being put to death along with dozens of other foreign nationals who were denied proper access to diplomatic representation before trials for capital crimes.

The administration moved after the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, brushed aside appeals from diplomats, top judges, senior military officers, the United Nations and former president George W Bush to stay Leal's execution because it could jeopardise American citizens arrested abroad as well as US diplomatic interests.

Leal, 38, was convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio. Few question that he was responsible for the killing but the Texas authorities failed to tell Leal, who was born in Mexico and has lived in the US since the age of two, that under the Vienna convention he was entitled to contact the Mexican consulate when he was arrested.

Leal's lawyers argue that the lack of consular access played a role in the death penalty being applied because the Mexican national incriminated himself in statements made during "non-custodial interviews" with the police on the day of the murder. Had Leal had access to the Mexican consulate it would have been likely to have arranged a lawyer who would have advised the accused man to limit his statements to the police. As it was, the Mexican authorities were never informed of his arrest.

In a 30-page brief to the supreme court, the administration said that the carrying out of the execution "would place the United States in irreparable breach of its international law obligation" under the convention.

The White House said it was in the US's interests to meet its treaty obligations.

"These interests include protecting Americans abroad, fostering co-operation with foreign nations, and demonstrating respect for the international rule of law," it said.

Carrying out Leal's execution would cause "irreparable harm" to US interests abroad, the administration added.

"That breach would have serious repercussions for United States foreign relations, law-enforcement and other co-operation with Mexico, and the ability of American citizens travelling abroad to have the benefits of consular assistance in the event of detention," it said.

The legal situation has been complicated by earlier court rulings.

In 2004, the international court of justice (ICJ) ruled that the US authorities had failed to meet its legal obligations to 51 Mexicans awaiting execution in American prisons when they were not informed of their right to contact their consulates.

The then president, George W Bush, a former Texas governor who backs the death penalty, said the US would adhere to the ICJ ruling which, in effect, meant the death sentences would be reviewed or commuted. But in 2008 the supreme court ruled that while the US government was obliged to comply with the ICJ ruling it did not have the power to force individual American states to do so. Only Congress could require adherence by passing a law.

The Obama administration has told the supreme court that a bill has recently been introduced in to the Senate to do just that but it is unlikely to win the approval of both houses of Congress before next year. The White House wants Leal's execution put on hold until the law is passed but two courts have already ruled that pending legislation has no effect on the legal process.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, has appealed to Perry to commute Leal's sentence to life imprisonment.

Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said that if Leal was put to death it would be "tantamount to an arbitrary deprivation of life".

Perry's office has said Texas laws had been abided by and that Leal would be executed for "the most heinous of crimes".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ju ... -execution

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

Mexican President Felipe Calderón

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Texas Pushes to Execute Mexican National

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-242620.html

Article above--Obama tries to stop execution in Texas of Mexican killer--added to Homepage with amended title.


http://www.alipac.us/article-6388--0-0.html