Mexico appeals to Supreme Court to spare citizen from death penalty

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to respond soon to an appeal this week by the Mexican government to spare the life of one of its citizens.

The Mexican government filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court Tuesday that demands Humberto Leal Garcia be given a reprieve from the death penalty.

He has been sentenced to die July 7 by a Texas judge after he was convicted in 1995 of raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio.

The Mexican government’s brief says the execution of Leal would violate the Vienna Convention of Consular Rights because he was not allowed to seek legal advice from his embassy before he was convicted.

The United States signed the treaty in 1969. Article 36 requires each participating country to promptly notify foreign embassies when their citizens are arrested abroad.

“The United States’ word should not be so carelessly broken, nor its standing in the international community so needlessly compromised,” the Mexican government’s brief says.

The brief was filed to support a petition by Leal’s attorneys to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari and a stay of execution.

More than 40 other Mexicans are on death row in the United States. All of them should have been given an opportunity for legal assistance from their government, U.S. attorneys for Mexico say.

A spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that because Leal committed the ultimate crime with the rape and murder of Adria Sauceda, there is no injustice in making him pay the ultimate penalty.

Civil rights groups have pleaded for months that Leal be given a reprieve, but their pleas took on greater urgency this week with the intervention of the Mexican government.

Because an international treaty comes into play in executing a foreign citizen, “that judgment should be made by the U.S. Congress, not Texas,” the Mexican government’s brief says.

Civil rights advocates have contributed to efforts to save Leal by organizing a Web site for him at www.humbertoleal.org.

"Mr. Leal's case is receiving particular attention right now because of the pending execution date, but Mexico is committed to ensuring the rights of all Mexican nationals facing capital charges or death sentences," Katharine Huffman, principal in the Raben Group public policy foundation, told All Headline News.

Civil rights advocates are drawing hope for their efforts from a bill introduced in the Senate two weeks ago by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Huffman said.

The bill would require that federal courts review all death sentences against foreign citizens to determine whether they were denied access to legal advice from their embassies. If they were not given “consular access,” the death penalties could be commuted.

“Each year, thousands of Americans are detained abroad while they study, travel, work, and serve in the military,” Leahy said in a statement. “From the moment they are detained, their safety and well-being depends on the ability of United States consular officials to meet with them, monitor their treatment, help them obtain legal assistance, and connect them to family back home."

Leahy said his proposed Consular Notification Compliance Act “will bring the United States one step closer to compliance with the convention."

More than 100 foreign citizens from 30 countries have been sentenced to death by American courts.

A recent petition from former U.S. diplomats, Army generals and others to the Texas governor says the execution of Leal creates the risk of a tit-for-tat for Americans arrested abroad. In other words, other countries might refuse to grant consular access to the Americans.

More than 6,600 Americans were arrested in foreign countries last year, according to the U.S. State Department. Of those, about 3,000 were incarcerated.

The dispute prompted journalist Euna Lee to write a column in The Washington Post last week that invoked her 2009 arrest by North Korean soldiers while on assignment for a news story.

“It is difficult to describe the fear that comes with being arrested and detained in a foreign country,” Lee wrote.

In much the way she was denied consular access before spending 4-1/2 months in a North Korean jail, Leal also is being denied his rights under the Vienna Convention of Consular Rights, Lee said.

“While I am not questioning the verdict of the jury that convicted him of murder, our obligations under the Vienna Convention are clear in all cases, including Leal’s,” she said.

Source: All Headline News, June 29, 2011

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