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Friday, July 8, 2011

Death Penalty for a Mexican Citizen

Adria Sauceda
I am sure everyone has heard about the case in Texas about Leal, executed yesterday.  A Mexican man, was sentenced to death for the 1994 rape and murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda, whose body was found unclothed and beaten, hours after she was seen leaving a party with Leal in San Antonio. Leal was set to be executed yesterday.  President Obama was asking the Supreme Court to stay yesterdays' planned execution of a Mexican citizen in Texas, arguing it could do "irreparable harm" to U.S. interests abroad.
The Mexican government said prior to the execution that the nation regarded it as a violation of international law.

The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a treaty that includes 170 countries, says a foreigner who is arrested must be allowed access to her home country's consulate. The International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 that U.S. states' sentencing of 54 Mexican citizens to death without allowing them to contact the Mexican Consulate was a violation of the treaty. Then-president George W. Bush ordered Texas to review its policies, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that neither Texas nor any U.S. state could be held to an international treaty unless Congress passed a law binding them to it.

In August 2008, Texas, which argued that its courts were not bound by the rulings of the ICJ, executed Mexican Jose Medellin.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has rejected requests from the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, diplomats, judges, former President George W. Bush, retired military officials and now, the Obama administration, to stay the execution. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected the request for a stay yesterday, though Perry could still grant a 30-day delay. After the Supreme Court ruled in its favor, the state put to death another Mexican national who had not been informed of his right to access his consulate three years ago. The state argues that Humberto Leal was not in custody when he incriminated himself, so the Vienna Convention obligations were not relevant. Observers worry that foreign countries will be less willing to grant the thousands of U.S. citizens who are arrested abroad each year consular access if Leal is put to death. "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," Texas spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said.

My questions are. Why would President Obama get involved in this case? Do you think that it has something to do with the Hispanic vote?  Do you think that the Mexican government didn't know about this case years ago? So why didn't they step in then?

I THINK THE COUNTRY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY?

Whether you believe in the death penalty is not the question today. I will save that for tomorrow!

3 comments:

  1. You're probably right Debi. Right now the President needs all the help he can get.

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  2. The death penalty should be banned worldwide. Some times, I feel that a person that committed a cruel act of taking someone else life should suffer the consequence. Now I am very much against it, one is because and the main reason is that God is the only one that can judge man. The second reason is when a life is taken, we can not reverse what we have done. Many people have lost their lives and are in prison for crimes they did not commit. I say abolish the law. Stop by and share your blog with us; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bloggers-Unite/227139297315313
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  3. Nicely said.... Obama needs the votes...how else is he going to et them but illegals.

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