El Paso (US), June 30 (IANS/EFE) Defence attorneys for a Mexican national sentenced to death in Texas have asked the US Supreme Court to grant a stay of his July 7 execution.
The petition, for writ of certiorari and a stay motion submitted Tuesday by Leal’s legal team, argues that the state of Texas should not be allowed to violate Humberto Leal Garcia’s constitutional rights, nor impinge upon the institutional interests of the US Congress and the executive branch in a ‘race to execution’.
That request also cites an ‘overwhelming public interest’ in ensuring that the US government complies with a 2004 order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to review the death sentences of 51 Mexicans then awaiting execution in Texas.
In that March 31, 2004, ruling, the ICJ said Texas had violated the rights of Leal and other Mexican nationals by failing to inform them of their right to consular assistance under the Vienna Convention.
The Mexican government, in a separate ‘friend of the court’ brief Tuesday, informed the high court that it has been a ‘forceful advocate’ for US citizens detained in Mexico and urged its neighbour to comply with its international treaty obligations.
Leal’s defence attorneys called for the execution to be delayed to allow time for debate on a bill known as the Consular Notification Compliance Act – introduced June 24 by Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.
The defence team said the legislation, which is backed by the Obama administration, would enable foreign nationals convicted and sentenced to death to have their cases reviewed in federal court to determine whether denial of consular access affected the outcome of their trials.
With consular access, Leal would have qualified, experienced attorneys who would have ‘transformed the quality of his defence’, Sandra Babcock, one of the convicted man’s lawyers, told EFE.
Leal, a 38-year-old native of Monterrey, was sentenced to death in 1995 by a Texas court for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl.
The attorneys concluded their petition by urging the US not to break its word and sully its international image by failing to comply with its treaty commitments under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Optional Protocol, and Article 94 of the UN Charter.
Leal’s defence team has filed a separate petition with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles; backed by former US diplomats and retired military brass, it also calls for a temporary stay of the Mexican man’s execution.
