Obviously Pres. Obama cares much more about Illegal Immigrants and International Treaties than Citizens of the United States of America.
HOUSTON – The Texas parole board refused Tuesday to stop this week's scheduled execution of a Mexican national for raping and killing a 16-year-old girl in a case that has raised diplomatic concerns in both Washington and
Mexico City.
Humberto Leal, 38, faces lethal injection Thursday in Huntsville for the 1994 slaying of Adria Sauceda of San Antonio. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 4-1 to deny a reprieve request. The same panel refused by a 5-0 vote to commute Leal's death sentence to life in prison.
The government of Mexico, the
State Department and the White House have agreed with Leal's attorneys that he should be given a reprieve because of questions about whether the outcome of his trial would have been different if he had been allowed to obtain legal help from the Mexican consulate when he was arrested.
The Obama administration took the unusual step Friday of asking the U.S.
Supreme Court to stop Texas from executing Leal. The administration said the court should delay the execution for up to six months to give Congress time to consider legislation that would directly affect Leal's case.
Leal's lawyers say police violated an international treaty by not telling Leal he could contact the Mexican consulate for assistance after his arrest for the murder of Sauceda.
The federal government rarely intervenes in state death penalty cases. The thrust of the administration's legal argument deals with the government's international treaty obligations, not Leal's guilt or innocence, or even whether he should ultimately be executed.
"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.
"Texas, by insisting on executing Mr. Leal before Congress has had a chance to act, seeks to break the United States' promise," Babcock said.
"Texas is not bound by a foreign court's ruling," Katherine Cesinger, Perry's press secretary, said Tuesday. "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."
Police discovered Sauceda's nude body on a dirt road in San Antonio in May 1994. Evidence showed she had been raped, beaten with a large rock and strangled. A large stick that had a screw protruding from it was left in her body.
Among other evidence, the bite mark was matched to Leal. Her bloody blouse was found at Leal's home. She and Leal had been attending a party not far from where she was found.
Leal's lawyers said it wasn't until he already was on death row that he learned from a fellow inmate that he could have sought legal help from the Mexican consulate.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011...lease/#ixzz1RLqN5hKW
Skippy