Thread: Obama Administration seeks to halt Texas execution of illega

RELATED

Texas parole board won't stop Mexican's execution

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-242646.html

It's amazing for Obama not to be calling him an American citizen since he's been here since age 2.
Thats his cry when talking about Illegals but now he wants to use international legal obligations as an excuse to save a Mexican!

PUT HIM TO DEATH. This isn't Mexico. He should have thought about the consequences of his actions before he went out and raped and killed that little girl. Where is the justice for that little 16 year old girl? She's dead now; she will get no justice-her life's gone! I think it is about time we sent a message to all these mexicans sneaking over to our country-you come over here and commit a heinous, violent crime, and unlike mexico, YOU WILL DIE! I hope he dies one painful death!

Originally Posted by EZ2BMe

PUT HIM TO DEATH. This isn't Mexico. He should have thought about the consequences of his actions before he went out and raped and killed that little girl. Where is the justice for that little 16 year old girl? She's dead now; she will get no justice-her life's gone! I think it is about time we sent a message to all these mexicans sneaking over to our country-you come over here and commit a heinous, violent crime, and unlike mexico, YOU WILL DIE! I hope he dies one painful death!

I agree, he has been here since the age of 2 living like an American. Now
he wants help from his homeland. If he hadn't been here in the first place she would still be alive.

RELATED

Texas defies calls to delay execution of Mexican

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-242719.html

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

What Treaty obligations.?!! A treaty with Mejico? If so, then it's alreadt been breached
by Mexico and is no longer in place.

(mod edit)

Mexican National Set for Execution in Texas Despite Obama's Pleas for Delay

By ARIANE DE VOGUE (@Arianedevogue)
WASHINGTON, July 6, 2011

Lawyers for the Obama administration are taking the unusual step of asking the Supreme Court to delay the execution scheduled for Thursday of a Mexican national who is on death row in Texas.

Humberto Leal, who has lived in the United States since he was 2 years old, is set to be executed for the 1994 kidnapping, rape and murder of Adria Sauceda, a 16-year-old girl.

But Leal's case has been complicated by the fact that he and other Mexican nationals on death row across the country were never informed of their right to seek legal assistance from the Mexican consulate. Such a failure of notification is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations -- a treaty that the United States is a party to -- which says that foreigners in custody have the right to consular notification, communication and access.

"The violation of the Vienna Convention in Mr. Leal's case was no mere technicality," said Sandra Babcock, who serves as Leal's lead counsel. "The Mexican consulate would have provided experienced and highly qualified attorneys who would have challenged the prosecution's reliance on junk science to obtain a conviction and would have presented powerful mitigating evidence at the penalty phase, including expert testimony regarding Mr. Leal's learning disabilities, brain damage, and sexual abuse at the hands of his parish priest."

The case is generating interest at the highest levels of the U.S. government from officials who do not want to send a message abroad that foreigners in custody have no right to consular notification. But it also has stirred a debate about the role of international courts and state death penalty convictions.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial body of the United Nations, determined that Leal and some 50 other Mexican Nationals on death row in the United States were entitled to judicial hearings to determine whether there had been a breach of their rights.

After the ruling, then President George W. Bush directed state courts to review the cases. But Texas pushed back, arguing that state courts were not subject to the rulings of an International Court.

In 2008, the issue reached the Supreme Court, which said that Congress would have to pass legislation in order for the ICJ decision to be enforced.

But it was only last month that Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the Consular Notification Compliance Act, which was meant to facilitate U.S. compliance with consular notification and provide judicial review for these particular foreign nationals who were denied access to their consulate.

As things stand now, the law has no chance of passing before the planned execution of Leal.Only the Supreme Court or Gov. Rick Perry of Texas have the power to delay the execution and Perry has indicated that he is not sympathetic to the international court's finding.

"If you commit the most heinous of crimes in Texas, you can expect to face the ultimate penalty under our laws" Perry's spokesman Katherine Cesinger. Cesinger added that the governor has yet to make a final decision on the case.

Solicitor General Donald V. Verrilli jury asked the Supreme Court on Friday to delay Leal's execution until the end of the next congressional session, Jan. 3, 2012, in order to give time for congress to pass the law.

Verrilli writes that without a stay of execution, the relationship between the United States and Mexico will be strained.

"Those relations are enjoying an unprecedented level of cooperation but they are also unusually sensitive, so that a breach resulting from petitioner's execution would be particularly harmful," Verrilli writes.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Attorney General Eric H. Holder praised the proposed legislation saying in a letter to Leahy it is of "fundamental importance to our ability to protect Americans overseas and preserve some of our most vital international relationships."

Arturo Sarukhan, the ambassador of Mexico, said in a letter to Clinton that while Mexico "never called into questions the heinous nature" of the crimes attributed to Leal, it believes that the United States is beholden to abide by the rules of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which requires consular notification rights.

Sarukhan cited the 2008 execution of another Mexican National, Jose Ernesto Medellin, which he said "was in direct breach" of the United State's international legal obligations.

Clinton and Holder make clear that Leahy's proposed legislation will help protect U.S citizens overseas if they should need access to the U.S. consulates abroad.

"The United States is best positioned to demand that foreign governments respect consular rights with respect to U.S. citizens abroad when we comply with these same obligations for foreign nationals in the United States," Clinton and Holder write.

Asked about the matter at a State Department briefing on Tuesday, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, "The concern is that if we don't set a good example here and allow foreign governments to visit their citizens who are detained or arrested, we could face reciprocal denial of access for our consular officials when American citizens find themselves arrested or detained overseas."

Jeffrey F. Pryce, an international lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson, said the legislation is necessary.

"This is a treaty that the United States signed up to, believes it is bound by and wants to comply with," Pryce said. "What's important is that the government has the legal tools to comply with its treaty obligations."

A group of former U.S. diplomats and State Department officials wrote Perry a letter urging him to grant a reprieve for Leal pending congressional action. In the letter the officials bring up the detention of three Americans crossing into Iran in 2009 and highlight U.S. requests at that time asking the Iranian government to "live up" to its obligations to grant consular access to the three individuals.

Pryce says the example is indicative how the fate of one death row inmate in Texas can have international implications. He says, "It's very important when the United States signs a treaty for it to comply with its obligations."

But Cesinger insisted that Congress has been slow to act and without such action Texas is not bound by the ruling of an international court.

"Congress has had the opportunity to consider and pass legislation for the federal courts review of such cases sincee 2008 and has not done so," Cesinger.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mexican- ... d=14002386

Hey rogue POTUS, what is that was your kid at that animals mercy?

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

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

What Treaty obligations.?!! A treaty with Mejico? If so, then it's alreadt been breached
by Mexico and is no longer in place. . .

Consular Rights, Foreign Nationals and the Death Penalty

Under Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations(VCCR), local authorities must inform all detained foreigners "without delay" of their right to have their consulate notified of their detention and to communicate with their consular representatives. At the request of the national, the authorities must then notify the consulate of the detention without delay; they must also facilitate consular communication and grant consular access to the detainee. Consuls are empowered to arrange for their nationals' legal representation and to provide a wide range of humanitarian and other assistance, with the consent of the detainee. Local laws and regulations must give "full effect" to the rights enshrined in Article 36. The USA ratified the VCCR without reservations in 1969; so fundamental is the right to consular notification and access that the U.S. Department of State considers it to be required under customary international law in all cases, even if the detainee's home country has not signed the VCCR. As of February 9, 2009, 172 countries were parties to the VCCR.

In March of 2004, the International Court of Justice determined in the Avena case (Mexico v. USA) that advisement of consular rights "without delay" means "a duty upon the arresting authorities to give that information to an arrested person as soon as it is realized that the person is a foreign national, or once there are grounds to think that the person is probably a foreign national." In most cases, police in the United States would become aware of a suspect's probable nationality through routine identity confirmation and background checks, done either during the initial investigation, upon arrest, or very shortly thereafter. The State Department has interpreted the term "without delay" to mean as soon as practicable (i.e., without undue delay) and normally by the time the detainee is booked for detention. While not all of the reported foreign nationals currently on death row were deprived of their consular rights by arresting authorities, there is overwhelming evidence that prompt notification of these rights remains highly sporadic across the United States. No comparative study has yet been done, but the available data indicates that timely consular assistance significantly reduces the likelihood that death sentences will be sought or imposed on foreign nationals facing capital charges.

Even applying the less stringent definition of prompt notification used by the State Department, only 7 cases of complete compliance with Article 36 requirements have been identified so far, out of more than 160 total reported death sentences (including those executed, reversed on appeal or exonerated and released). In most of the remaining cases, detained nationals learned of their consular rights weeks, months or even years after their arrest, typically from attorneys or other prisoners and not from the local authorities. As a consequence, consular officials were often unable to provide crucial assistance to their nationals when it would be most beneficial: at the arrest and pre-trial stage of capital cases. For example, Arizona authorities did not formally inform German nationals Karl and Walter LaGrand of their Article 36 rights until 17 years after their arrest-- and just weeks before their execution.

Although not a capital case, evidence from a lawsuit indicates the extent to which police departments in the USA may have breached their consular notification obligations. In Sorensen v. City of New York , a Danish national sought punitive and compensatory damages for the failure of the NYPD to inform her upon arrest in 1997 of her right to consular notification. Official records produced by the plaintiff revealed that over 53,000 foreign nationals were arrested in New York City during 1997, but that the NYPD Alien Notification Log registered only 4 cases in which consulates were notified of those arrests--a failure rate well in excess of 99 per cent (even presuming that a majority of the detainees might have declined consular notification). Another example is the recent finding by the International Court of Justice in Avena and Other Mexican Nationals that the United States had violated its Article 36 obligations in 51 of 52 reviewed cases of Mexican nationals resulting in death sentences (a 98% failure rate, in the most serious of all possible circumstances).

Research to date indicates that a large majority of death-sentenced foreign nationals were lawfully present in the United States and were thus not "illegal aliens." For example, of the 54 Mexican nationals whose cases were initially brought before the International Court of Justice in Avena, only 5 were alleged by the United States to have entered the country illegally at any time prior to their arrest on the charges resulting in their death sentences.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/foreign ... penalty-us

Under Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations(VCCR), local authorities must inform all detained foreigners "without delay" of their right to have their consulate notified of their detention and to communicate with their consular representatives

Problem is that police are not allowed to ask a persons immigration status. It's "racist" So how were the police to know this guy was a Mexican National?