Lawyers for Mexican say execution violates treaty

Tag : Binding Wires

His attorneys contend he was denied the protections of the ViennaConvention, which calls for people arrested to have access to theirhome country's consular officials.
President Bush has asked states to review the cases, but the U.S.Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that neither the presidentnor the international court can force Texas' hand. Medellin'ssupporters say Congress or the Texas Legislature should be given achance to pass a law setting up procedures for new hearings beforehe is executed.
Gov. Rick Perry, the Texas courts and the state attorney generalsay the execution should be carried out. The Texas AttorneyGeneral's Office urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeals,saying the execution "fully complies with international law" andnoting that the justices already have ruled that the InternationalCourt of Justice's decisions are not U.S. law and not binding onAmerican courts.
On Monday, Medellin's lawyers asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court ofAppeals for a reprieve and for permission to file new appeals onhis behalf. They also awaited word from the Supreme Court, whichthey asked on Friday to halt the execution until legislation can bepassed to formalize the case reviews.
Trial testimony showed Medellin was the first of six members of astreet gang to start attacking the girls.
They were drinking after initiating a new member and intercepted16-year-old Elizabeth Pena and 14-year-old Jennifer Ertman, whowere taking a shortcut home across a railroad bridge in Houston.The gang members attacked the girls for an hour before stranglingthem and letting their bodies decompose in a field. Their remainswere found four days later.
Medellin contends he never was advised by prosecutors or police ofhis right as a detained foreign national to seek consularassistance, depriving him of legal assistance that Mexico couldhave provided.
"That's a last-stop measure they're trying to use," Mark Vinson, anow-retired former Harris County assistant district attorney whoprosecuted Medellin, said Monday. "Mr. Medellin raised that issuebefore the trial. In pre-trial he didn't raise the issue. And hedidn't raise the issue during the trial.
"If he had raised the issue at his probable cause hearing, thecourt would have complied. And it was never raised."
In the Supreme Court filing, Medellin's lawyers never mention thecrime.
"They don't care about Jennifer. They don't care about Elizabeth,"said Randy Ertman, father of one of the victims.
Ertman planned to be in the death chamber Tuesday to see Medellindie. He made a similar trip in 2006 when Derrick O'Brien became thefirst of the gang members to be executed.
The death sentences of two others, Efrain Perez and RaulVillarreal, were commuted to life in prison when the Supreme Courtbarred executions for those who were 17 at the time of theircrimes.
A fourth, Peter Cantu, described by authorities as the ringleader,is on death row but no execution date has been set.
The sixth person convicted, Medellin's brother, Vernancio, was 14at the time and is serving a 40-year prison term.
Mexico, which has no death penalty, initially sued the UnitedStates in the World Court in 2003. It and other opponents ofcapital punishment have sought to use the court to fight forforeigners facing execution in the U.S.
At least six other Mexican nationals have been executed in Texassince 1982, when the state resumed carrying out capital punishment.
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