Do Unto Others Y Otros

In a clemency petition filed this week with the Board of Pardons and Paroles, attorney Sandra Babcock argues that if the state of Texas goes through with the planned July 7 execution of Humberto Leal, it will be committing an "irreparable breach of international law." Leal was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1994 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda in Bexar County. Among the problems with Leal's case – and there are many, argues Babcock, including bad trial-level lawyering and the state's current opposition to new DNA testing – is the fact that Leal, a Mexican national, was never afforded consular access after his arrest contrary to international law codified in the Vienna Convention, to which the U.S. is a signatory. This is not the first time the issue has come up. In 2004, the Inter­na­tional Court of Justice ruled that the U.S. had violated the law in the cases of 54 Mexicans – including Leal. Then-President George W. Bush asked Texas courts to take heed of the decision, but that did not happen, and in 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in another Texas death case that it would take an act of Congress to force the state courts to abide by the decision. With the support of the Obama administration, that's on the horizon, argues Babcock, so executing Leal now would again deny him due process. Leal has gained support from a variety of circles – including former judges and prosecutors, retired military leaders, former diplomats, and State Department officials, along with associations representing Americans living abroad. "When the United States violates the Vienna Convention, it encourages other nations to do the same," argues Babcock, "especially when dealing with American nationals." (See more at austinchronicle.com/newsdesk.)