AntZ
07-07-2011, 10:16 PM
White House Seeks Delay of Mexican Man's Execution as Supreme Court Mulls Case
Published July 07, 2011 | FoxNews.com
As the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to block a Mexican man's execution in Texas, the White House is pleading for a stay in the case that has pitted Texas justice against international treaty rights.
Humberto Leal, 38, 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.
Just hours before the 6 p.m. scheduled execution, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he has yet to make a decision regarding whether to stay the execution, a spokeswoman said.
Leal, who moved with his family from Mexico to the U.S. as a toddler, contends police never told him he could seek legal assistance from the Mexican government under the treaty -- and that such assistance would have helped his defense.
Sauceda, according to court documents, was found naked when authorities discovered her body in May 1994.
"There was a 30- to 40-pound asphalt rock roughly twice the size of the victim's skull lying partially on the victim's left arm," court documents read. "Blood was underneath this rock. A smaller rock with blood on it was located near the victim's right thigh. There was a gaping hole from the corner of the victim's right eye extending to the center of her head from which blood was oozing. The victim's head was splattered with blood."
A "bloody and broken" stick roughly 15 inches long with a screw at the end of it was also protruding from the girl's vagina, according to the documents.
Leal's supporters, however, claim he was never given the option to seek legal assistance from the Mexican government. Although evidence against Leal was strong, supporters say he incriminated himself and had other legal difficulties.
"If Texas were to proceed with the scheduled execution of Mr. Leal ... there could be no dispute that that execution would be unlawful -- specifically, in violation of treaty commitments validly made by the United States through constitutionally prescribed processes," Sandra Babcock, a Northwestern University law professor who is one of Leal's attorneys, said last week in her appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Last Friday, the Obama administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Texas from executing Leal, asking the court to delay the execution for up to six months to give Congress time to consider legislation that would enforce the U.N. treaty.
Congress reportedly had three years to pass the bill but did not. Hence, it is impossible to pass a bill that would spare Leal unless a stay is ordered. A 30-day stay granted by Perry is another potential way for Leal to avoid execution on Thursday.
Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have said if Texas disregards the treaty, it may have consequences for American citizens arrested abroad.
But the state of Texas appears to bristle at the idea of a foreign body affecting judgments in the state, even though President George W. Bush endorsed the U.N. ruling.
"Texas is not bound by a foreign court's ruling,” Katherine Cesinger, press secretary for Gov. Perry's office, said in a statement. "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the treaty was not binding on the states and that the president does not have the authority to order states to review cases of the then 51 foreign nationals on death row in the U.S."
For 16 years, Leal has exercised his right to file appeals and motions so extensively, one judge in federal district court called his case "one of the most procedurally convoluted and complex habeas corpus proceedings" he ever reviewed.
As it stands, the death warrant could be served any time after 6 p.m. Thursday. Leal will be allowed to address the media, meet family and friends and eat his last meal: fried chicken, pico de Gallo and guisada tacos.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Adria's father, Rene Sauceda, reportedly begins each morning by reading a South San Antonio High School newspaper clipping from May 25, 1995 -- just after the first anniversary of his daughter's death.
"I look at that every day," Sauceda, 64, told the San Antonio Express-News. "Her friends paid to have that put in the newspaper. She had so many friends."
Sauceda's mother, Rachel Terry, told San Antonio television station KSAT her family already had suffered too long.
"A technicality doesn't give anyone a right to come to this country and rape, torture and murder anyone," she said.
Published July 07, 2011 | FoxNews.com
As the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to block a Mexican man's execution in Texas, the White House is pleading for a stay in the case that has pitted Texas justice against international treaty rights.
Humberto Leal, 38, 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.
Just hours before the 6 p.m. scheduled execution, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he has yet to make a decision regarding whether to stay the execution, a spokeswoman said.
Leal, who moved with his family from Mexico to the U.S. as a toddler, contends police never told him he could seek legal assistance from the Mexican government under the treaty -- and that such assistance would have helped his defense.
Sauceda, according to court documents, was found naked when authorities discovered her body in May 1994.
"There was a 30- to 40-pound asphalt rock roughly twice the size of the victim's skull lying partially on the victim's left arm," court documents read. "Blood was underneath this rock. A smaller rock with blood on it was located near the victim's right thigh. There was a gaping hole from the corner of the victim's right eye extending to the center of her head from which blood was oozing. The victim's head was splattered with blood."
A "bloody and broken" stick roughly 15 inches long with a screw at the end of it was also protruding from the girl's vagina, according to the documents.
Leal's supporters, however, claim he was never given the option to seek legal assistance from the Mexican government. Although evidence against Leal was strong, supporters say he incriminated himself and had other legal difficulties.
"If Texas were to proceed with the scheduled execution of Mr. Leal ... there could be no dispute that that execution would be unlawful -- specifically, in violation of treaty commitments validly made by the United States through constitutionally prescribed processes," Sandra Babcock, a Northwestern University law professor who is one of Leal's attorneys, said last week in her appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Last Friday, the Obama administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Texas from executing Leal, asking the court to delay the execution for up to six months to give Congress time to consider legislation that would enforce the U.N. treaty.
Congress reportedly had three years to pass the bill but did not. Hence, it is impossible to pass a bill that would spare Leal unless a stay is ordered. A 30-day stay granted by Perry is another potential way for Leal to avoid execution on Thursday.
Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have said if Texas disregards the treaty, it may have consequences for American citizens arrested abroad.
But the state of Texas appears to bristle at the idea of a foreign body affecting judgments in the state, even though President George W. Bush endorsed the U.N. ruling.
"Texas is not bound by a foreign court's ruling,” Katherine Cesinger, press secretary for Gov. Perry's office, said in a statement. "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the treaty was not binding on the states and that the president does not have the authority to order states to review cases of the then 51 foreign nationals on death row in the U.S."
For 16 years, Leal has exercised his right to file appeals and motions so extensively, one judge in federal district court called his case "one of the most procedurally convoluted and complex habeas corpus proceedings" he ever reviewed.
As it stands, the death warrant could be served any time after 6 p.m. Thursday. Leal will be allowed to address the media, meet family and friends and eat his last meal: fried chicken, pico de Gallo and guisada tacos.
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Adria's father, Rene Sauceda, reportedly begins each morning by reading a South San Antonio High School newspaper clipping from May 25, 1995 -- just after the first anniversary of his daughter's death.
"I look at that every day," Sauceda, 64, told the San Antonio Express-News. "Her friends paid to have that put in the newspaper. She had so many friends."
Sauceda's mother, Rachel Terry, told San Antonio television station KSAT her family already had suffered too long.
"A technicality doesn't give anyone a right to come to this country and rape, torture and murder anyone," she said.