Texas Plan to Execute Mexican May Harm U.S. Ties Abroad, Kerry Says

[Judi Lynn]

Source: New York Times

Texas Plan to Execute Mexican May Harm U.S. Ties Abroad, Kerry Says
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
Published: December 11, 2013

HOUSTON — The scheduled execution next month of a Mexican national by the State of Texas threatens to damage relations between the United States and Mexico and complicate the ability of the United States to help Americans detained overseas, Secretary of State John F. Kerry has warned Texas officials.

The Mexican, Edgar Arias Tamayo, 46, was convicted of shooting and killing a Houston police officer who was taking him to jail after a robbery in 1994. Mr. Tamayo, who was in the nation illegally, was not notified of his right to contact the Mexican Consulate, in violation of an international treaty known as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. That violation, an international tribunal’s order for his case to be reviewed and a judge’s recent decision to set Mr. Tamayo’s execution for Jan. 22, are now at the center of a controversy that has attracted the attention of the State Department and the Mexican government.

Despite Mr. Kerry’s involvement, there has been no sign that Texas officials plan to delay the execution. On Wednesday, Mr. Tamayo’s lawyers asked Gov. Rick Perry to grant him a 30-day reprieve and petitioned the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute his death sentence to life in prison. They are using Mr. Kerry’s letter, sent to Texas officials in September, to highlight the international issues at stake.

In 2004, the top judicial body of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, ordered the United States to review the convictions of Mr. Tamayo and 50 other Mexican nationals whose Vienna Convention rights, it said, were violated and who were sentenced to death in the United States. The international court, also known as the World Court, found that United States courts had to determine in each case whether the violation of consular rights harmed the defendant. In the nine years since the World Court’s decision, no United States court has reviewed the Vienna Convention issues in Mr. Tamayo’s case, said Maurie Levin, one of his lawyers.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/us/texas-plan-to-execute-mexican-may-harm-us-ties-abroad-kerry-says.html?=&_r=0

[MADem]

1. Obama should pick up the phone and call Porgie.

And tell Porgie, if he ever wants to slip over the border for a taco y cerveza ever again, that he needs to get up in Ricky boy's face and convince him, for the good of TX and the nation, to covert that sentence to life without parole, because Kerry wasn't bullshitting--this is for real.

Where Perry won't listen to Dems, he may listen to one of his own.

The only other option would be for the federal government to trump up charges against the guy, and swipe him to stand trial, and then delay, delay, delay .... until TX turns blue.

[Niceguy1]

2. dude killed a cop

Nonine is going to ruin relations over this guy....its all hot air for the masses.

[Dustlawyer]

12. Perry sucks up to the police organizations. He speaks at a police organizations annual

convention every other year. Texas Attorney General and Gubanatoral candidate Greg Abbott covers the other years, this guy is toast!
Always makes me wonder why Democrats won't woo the police too. No wonder most are Republican and like to bash protestors.

[Niceguy1]

13. I could see it

If his guilt was in doubt....

[newfie11]

3. The next US citizen that gets stopped

Could find themselves in an unknown Mexican jail with no notification to US.

This guy is bad, he killed a cop, but he was never allowed to contact the Mexican Consulate.

Americans could find themselves in the same boat in MX.

[TxGrandpa]

4. Americans get no symphaty in Mexico...

...the guy killed a cop [could have been anyone] here in this country. He is subject to our laws just like anyone else. Now the government doesn't want him executed on a technicality?

We have enough illegal Mexican nationals committing crimes here then fleeing across the border.

[newfie11]

5. Laws are laws

In America. No matter where your from, legal or illegal.
He should have been told his rights.
I grew up in TX. In fact I am a 6th generation Texas. The law is the law!

[TxGrandpa]

6. And crimes are crimes....

... they all seem to wait until the last minute before pursuing this. Again we have too many illegals committing crimes then either running back across the border and hiding.

There's many here illegally that doesn't go around committing crimes, and are decent people, but those few like this guy gives them all a bad name.

A good many has claimed this at the last minute to avoid execution. Where has their consulate been all these years since he was sentenced?

I'm a 7th generation American and I don't like people coming here and committing crimes. It doesn't matter how many Texas generations a person is....we're Americans.

[newfie11]

7. Well we will never agree on this one

it will be what the courts say.

[Comrade Grumpy]

18. There are too many Texans committing crimes, but there are some good Texans, too.

[lastlib]

8. Those "technicalities" are called "laws".

[hobbit709]

11. I know several Americans who spent time in a Mexican jail, never a word from the consulate.

[7962]

9. More and more Mexicans are supporting the return of the death penalty

With what goes on down there, its only a matter of time before they bring it back IMO.

[mdbl]

10. The reports out of Mexico show the Cartels running the country

I hope that isn't the case, but if so, the death penalty will only apply to those who double cross the boss. At this point, I don't know why anyone would even venture there.

[warrant46]

17. That place is a cesspool

Look at how many murders happen each year in just Ciudad Juarez alone

Between 2007 and 2011 more than 9,000 people were killed, with the peak coming in 2010, when Juarez saw a record 3,116 homicides, or about 8 murders per day, according to figures released by the attorney general's office.

Lately the level is way down because the cartels have now adopted the Lucky Luciano Five Families solution. They don't kill each other as often because they now divide up the spoils more amicably.

[Comrade Grumpy]

19. Actually, drug war killings are about the same this year as last, about 19,000 each year.

That said, it hardly makes Mexico "a cesspool." It's a large country with more than 100 million people.

[warrant46]

20. Its a wonderful place its just like Disneyland

[CFLDem]

22. Or Somalia

[L0oniX]

14. "Vienna Convention" ...like the US gives a fuck about that.

[alp227]

15. Medellin v Texas (2007)

In this case, the Bush administration argued for the plaintiff's side. Plaintiff was Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican national convicted of rape and murder in Texas. Good idea for Sec. of St. Kerry to err on the side of caution here.

[hack89]

16. The ICC judgement is not legally binding domestically due to Congress inaction

it is not enough to sign a treaty - Congress has to pass a law specifically making it part of domestic law. Congress has not passed the enabling legislation needed to make ICC judgements binding on states.

Settled case law - Medellín v. Texas 2008.

Medellín v. Texas, 552 U.S. 491 (2008), is a United States Supreme Court decision that held that even if an international treaty may constitute an international commitment, it is not binding domestic law unless Congress has enacted statutes implementing it or unless the treaty itself is "self-executing." Also, the Court held that decisions of the International Court of Justice are not binding domestic law and that, without authority from the United States Congress or the Constitution, the President of the United States lacks the power to enforce international treaties or decisions of the International Court of Justice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medell%C3%ADn_v._Texas

[quadrature]

21. simple remedy... his estate can sue ...nt

[BadGimp]

23. This here is Amerka!

We dont cottin to no fereners!