[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Nat

Texas executed a Mexican man last night, despite the appeals of diplomats, politicians, judges, senior military figures and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - despite requests from both Obama and George W. Bush. The US Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow the execution to go ahead. Governor Perry (a likely Republican presidential hopeful) chose not to stop the execution despite its international ramifications.

The man's name is Humberto Leal Garcia, and I don't think anybody is claiming he was innocent of the crime he was convicted of - the rape and murder of a 16 year old girl in 1994 (though he said the girl's death was accidental...). The issue is that Texas police did not inform the man that he was entitled to contact his country's consulate for assistance with his case, which was his right under the Vienna Convention.

As I'm sure I've stated before, I am against the death penalty. (Btw, so is Mexico. Capital punishment was officially abolished in Mexico in 2005, having not been used in civil cases since 1937 (according to wikipedia). Mexico also does not extradite to countries seeking the death penalty). However, this execution speaks to more than the penalty or the crime. It's a demonstration of U.S. disregard for international law - which not only abuses Mexico and the rest of the world, but puts U.S. citizens at risk should they be arrested outside the U.S.

Here's some info about Mexico's attempts to get the U.S. to conform to international law in these matters: <<disallowed word>>http://www.mexidata.info/id3069.html

Mexico's government has released a statement condemning this execution "in the most energetic terms" and Mexico's foreign ministry sent a formal note of protest to the US State department.

Before the execution, Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions had warned, "If the scheduled execution of Mr. Leal Garcia goes ahead, the United States government will have implemented a death penalty after a trial that did not comply with due process rights. This will be tantamount to an arbitrary deprivation of life."

I've been trying to find a full statement by Perry regarding this execution, but my google-fu is not at full-power. I'm not sure if this is the full statement, but this is the statement being quoted by some news sources: <<disallowed word>>"If you commit the most heinous of crimes in Texas, you can expect to face the ultimate penalty under our laws, as in this case where Leal was convicted of raping and bludgeoning a 16 year old girl to death."

So as far as I can tell, Perry is not all that concerned with the violation of international law in this case.

There should have been a stay- Hell No, Perry is not someone that would pay attention to international law. He believes that Texas can break with the US due to the manner in which it joined the Union (a clause in the original documents). He is far worse than "Dubya" ever was. Now, think about that! He really doesn't think that Texas has to abide by US law as is evidenced by his history in many death penalty cases. He loves seeing the death penalty carried out in Texas.

The crime this man was accused of is horrible and if he did this, there is no way I would want him out in society. However, the US does have an obligation to honor international law as well as our constitutional obligations for defendants throughout the country. Even when crimes committed turn my stomach, I don't want to live in a country (or state) that does not adhere to our constitutional rights. That is not justice being carried out to me. I do support the death penalty under certain circumstances (with several caveats concerning proof of guilt), yet, this was wrong and a slap in the face to our republic.

The idea of Rick Perry as a viable presidential candidate makes me nuts!!