U.S. Supreme Court Denies Mexican National Killer's Request for Execution Stay

Published July 07, 2011
FoxNews.com

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a Mexican man's request for an execution stay in Texas, calling his argument meritless.

Humberto Leal, 38, a Mexican national and convicted murder, has since been moved to a holding cell a few steps away from the Texas death chamber, an indicator that he is hours away from the lethal injection cocktail.

He is set to die in Huntsville for the 1994 brutal rape and murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda, of San Antonio. President Obama, the State Department and Mexican authorities have all asked Texas for a last-minute reprieve of Leal, citing the U.N.-enforced 1963 Vienna Treaty, which requires foreign nationals who are arrested in foreign countries the right to access their consulates.

The White House is pleading for a stay in the case that has pitted Texas justice against international treaty rights.

[b]The U.S. Supreme Court said, “We have no authority to stay an execution in light of an “appeal of the President,â€