Texas executes Mexican after court stay rejected
7/7/2011 11:17:10 PM ET 2011-07-08T03:17:10
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Mexican national was executed Thursday for the rape-slaying of a teenager after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down an appeal to spare him that was supported by Mexico and the White House.
In his last minutes, Humberto Leal repeatedly said he was sorry and accepted responsibility.
"I have hurt a lot of people. ... I take full blame for everything. I am sorry for what I did," he said in the death chamber.
"One more thing," he said as the drugs began taking effect. Then he shouted twice, "Viva Mexico!"
"Ready warden," he said. "Let's get this show on the road."
The 38-year-old mechanic was pronounced dead 10 minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing into his arms.
He was sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda, whose brutalized nude body was found hours after he left a San Antonio street party with her. She was bludgeoned with a chunk of asphalt.
Leal was just a toddler when he and his family moved to the U.S. from Monterrey, Mexico, but his citizenship became a key element of his attorneys' efforts to win a stay. They said police never told him following his arrest that he could seek legal assistance from the Mexican government under an international treaty.
Mexico, the Obama administration and others had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay Leal's execution so Congress could consider a law that would require court reviews in cases where condemned foreign nationals did not receive help from their consulates. They said the case could affect not only foreigners in the U.S. but Americans detained in other countries.
The court rejected the request 5-4. Its five more conservative justices doubted that executing Leal would cause grave international consequences, and doubted "that it is ever appropriate to stay a lower court judgment in light of unenacted legislation."
"Our task is to rule on what the law is, not what it might eventually be," the majority said.
The court's four liberal-leaning justices said they would have granted the stay.
Leal's attorney Sandra L. Babcock said that with consular help her client could have shown that he was not guilty. But she added, "This case was not just about one Mexican national on death row in Texas. The execution of Mr. Leal violates the United States' treaty commitments, threatens the nation's foreign policy interests, and undermines the safety of all Americans abroad."
Prosecutors, however, said Congress was unlikely to pass the legislation sought and that Leal's appeals were simply an attempt to evade justice for a gruesome murder.
Mexico's foreign ministry said in a statement that the government condemned Leal's execution and sent a note of protest to the U.S. State Department. The ministry also said Mexican ambassador Arturo Sarukhan attempted to contact Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who refused to speak on the phone.
The governor's office declined to comment on the execution Thursday.
Leal's argument that he should have received consular legal aid that could have helped his case was not new. Texas has executed other condemned foreign nationals who raised similar challenges, most recently in 2008.
Leal's appeals, however, focused on legislation introduced last month in the U.S. Senate by Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy. Leahy's measure would bring the U.S. into compliance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provision regarding the arrests of foreign nationals, and ensure court reviews for condemned foreigners to determine if a lack of consular help made a significant difference in the outcome of their cases.
"Americans detained overseas rely on their access to U.S. consulates every day," Leahy said after the Supreme Court decision was announced. "If we expect other countries to abide by the treaties they join, the United States must also honor its obligations."
The Obama administration took the unusual step of intervening in a state murder case last week when Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. joined Leal's appeal, asking the high court to halt the execution and give Congress at least six months to consider Leahy's bill.
The Mexican government and other diplomats also contended that the execution should be delayed so Leal's case could be thoroughly reviewed. Some also warned his execution would violate the treaty provision and could endanger Americans in countries that deny them consular help.
Measures similar to Leahy's have failed at least twice in recent U.S. congressional sessions. The Texas Attorney General's office, opposing the appeals, pointed to those failures in its Supreme Court arguments and said "legislative relief was not likely to be forthcoming."
After his execution, relatives of Leal who had gathered in Guadalupe, Mexico, burned a T-shirt with an image of the American flag in protest. Leal's uncle Alberto Leal criticized the U.S. justice system and the Mexican government and said, "There is a God who makes us all pay."
In 2005, President George W. Bush agreed with an International Court of Justice ruling that Leal and 50 other Mexican-born inmates nationwide should be entitled to new hearings in U.S. courts to determine if their consular rights were violated. The Supreme Court later overruled Bush.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43665942
And on Thursday, the EPA imposed "surprise" regulations on Texas. Repraisal??
Texas fight with EPA grows with power-plant rule
By Eileen O'Grady
HOUSTON | Thu Jul 7, 2011 7:26pm EDT
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas Governor Rick Perry and two top state regulators on Thursday blasted the U.S. environmental agency for including Texas in a rule to slash sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants, warning that the last-minute action could threaten the state's electric supply.
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule to reduce air pollution from coal-fired power plants in states east of the Rocky Mountains.
"Today's EPA announcement is another example of heavy-handed and misguided action from Washington, D.C., that threatens Texas jobs and families and puts at risk the reliable and affordable electricity our state needs to succeed," said Perry, a potential Republican presidential contender, in a statement.
The state's environmental agency and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson have been battling over air quality rules related to Texas refineries for more than a year.
Thursday, the battle shifted to the electric sector. Owners of coal-fired power plants in Texas have invested billions to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide in recent years, said officials with Luminant and NRG Energy Inc, the two largest power producers in the state.
The challenge from the new rule, known as the Cross State Air Pollution Rule, is that stricter limits take effect next year, giving power-plant owners little time to comply.
Texas was not included in the EPA's draft rule related to sulfur dioxide cuts because EPA modeling had shown little downwind impact from Texas power plants on other states.
On Thursday, however, the EPA said Texas would be required to meet lower SO2 limits to avoid allowing the state to increase emissions.
Five states -- Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, along with the District of Columbia -- were dropped from the final EPA rule.
"The late decision to apply the rule to Texas and the modeling for the rule have resulted in wholly unreasonable mandates and unrealistic timelines," said Luminant, owner of Texas' largest generating fleet including a dozen coal plants with a capacity of 8,000 megawatts.
Dallas-based Luminant said it has cut SO2 emissions by 21 percent since 2005 while boosting electric output.
Luminant said the rule would have a "highly disproportionate impact on Texas" which will account for one-quarter of the total SO2 emission reductions under the rule.
Environmental groups hailed the EPA action as long overdue to protect the health of Texas residents and downplayed any possible threat to the state's electric grid.
"We are especially pleased with EPA's decision to include Texas in its proposal and to include SO2 as Texas coal plants are at the top of the list of worst polluters in the nation," said Neil Carman, director of the Sierra Club's clean-air program in Texas.
Texas Public Utility Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman said power plants could be forced to add pollution control equipment, adjust their fuel supply to include more costly coal, reduce output or "worse case, prematurely shut down."
Texas, which operates as an electric "island" with limited ability to import power from other states, is looking for ways to encourage power-plant construction given growing electric demand and shrinking power reserves.
Bryan Shaw, chairman of the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, said EPA's move to include Texas was "not based on sound science" and will result in regulations "that are not necessary for public health protection."
Shaw said the federal agency also failed to give Texas adequate notice that it would be included in the final rule related to SO2 emissions.
(Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner; editing by Lisa Shumaker)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... PM20110707