U.S. Breaks International Law By Executing Mexican National

[Tulip86]

What I don't get is why they never found out he was actually Mexican before he was executed. I know he lied, but aren't all those "facts" checked ohne ende before executing someone?

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Had he identified as a Mexican national upon his arrest, chances are he WOULD have been advised he could contact his consul.

I agree. Hell, I'm assuming his own defense attorney(s) didn't even know about his citizenship (BC they probably would have made contact with the consulate themselves).

Originally Posted by Tulip86

What I don't get is why they never found out he was actually Mexican before he was executed. I know he lied, but aren't all those "facts" checked ohne ende before executing someone?

They did find out he was Mexican but he was already tried, convicted, and sitting on death row at that time. One would think they would have found out about this guys nationality but given the fact that we have sanctuary cities where no one asks and a Justice Dept that sues states that require officers to check into the nationalities of the people they arrest can you really be surprised that something like this would happen?

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,2041...136236,00.html

"Texas is not bound by a foreign court's ruling," Cesinger said. "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."
In its ruling Thursday about an hour before Leal's execution, the Supreme Court's majority opinion pointed to the IJC decision, saying it's been seven years since then and three years since the previous Texas death penalty case that raised similar consular legal access issues.
If a statute implementing the provisions of the international court ruling "had genuinely been a priority for the political branches, it would have been enacted by now," the majority ruling said.
Had the White House and dissenting justices been worried about "the grave international consequences that will follow from Leal's execution ... Congress evidently did not find these consequences sufficiently grave to prompt its enactment of implementing legislation, and we will follow the law as written by Congress," the ruling continued.
Leal's appeals lawyers had pinned their hopes on legislation introduced in the Senate last month that applied to the Vienna Convention provisions and said Leal should have a reprieve so the measure could make its way through the legislative process.
Similar bills have failed twice in recent congressional sessions.
"Our task is to rule on what the law is, not what it might eventually be," the court said.