UN: Texas execution broke international law

[Fandango 1,439]

Hang on, so he was here illegally from the time he was 1.5...and killed this girl when he was like 21 years old? And the cops should have told him he had a right to talk to the consulate? Why? He long ago abandoned Mexico to live in the USA. He wasn't some Mexican tourist here on vacation. He long ago made this his home, and at the age of 18, when he had the legal right to do so, he chose to not go home. He chose to stay. Doesn't that mean that he is choosing to be subject to our laws, too? Should he get a free pass from punishment a USC would face?

Are the cops mindreaders? Should they have known he was a Mexican national?

But wait, isn't it also 'racist' for the cops to verify citizenship???

Here's something a bit hard to stomach:

"There can be little doubt that if the government of Mexico had been allowed access to Mr Leal in a timely manner, he would not now be facing execution for a capital murder he did not commit," Leal's lawyers said in their appeal to the pardons board.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/08/humberto-leal-garcia-executed-texas

and yet:

Perry defends Mexican's execution in girl's death

By MICHAEL GRACZYK

ASSOCIATED PRESS

July 8, 2011, 6:11PM

...

Adria Sauceda was killed in 1994 in a gruesome attack in which her head was bashed with a 30- to 40-pound piece of asphalt and she was raped, strangled, bit and then left nude on a dirt road with a piece of wood stuck in her.

From the Texas death chamber Thursday evening, Leal, 38, took responsibility for the slaying, asked for forgiveness and wrapped up his comments by twice shouting: "Viva Mexico!"

So this is all based upon the fact that there's speculation that a Mexican consulate atty did not get him off.

If an American raped bludgeoned someone to death in another country, and that country was going to put him to death, I say go for it.

[tmma 467]

He was given due process...the same due process that's afforded US citizens in TX that commit crimes & probably more due process than an American illegally ( or legally ) in Mexico would get or even maybe a Mexican in Mexico?

Edited July 9, 2011 by tmma

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

If you can do what he did to another human being you do not need to be allowed the privilege of playing in our sandbox. Everyone says we should not kill a human because we are civilized but when he did this to another human being he gave up any humanity he had. He crossed over into being a piece of filth. He was trash and the trash got taken out. I am all for giving baseball bats to the family and letting them get some satisfaction from watching him suffer. If this was my child he did this to he would be praying for the police to get to him first.

We put people into prison and it is a sign of becoming a Big Shot. How does this detour crime? How many inmates is California releasing now due to overcrowding? Why not just strip them of their citizenship and put them on an island and let them live if they can. Stop paying for them. Stop clothing them. Just guard the island and let them have their gang wars Lord of the Flies style.

The problem with this is right there in the bolded. Suggesting that someone "gives up" humanity because they committed a barbaric act simply isnt true. What you are really saying is because you think a person's crime makes them inhuman, that this then gives you licence to be similarly inhuman. I'm afraid it doesn't work like that, at the end of the day you are directly and morally responsible for what you do, you can't pass it off on someone else.

[B_J 2,752]

From what I've read, and I could be wrong, Texas did not violate his rights at all. He has a right to speak to his consulate and they would probably provide him with an attorney. However, that is a right that he has to raise himself. He has to inform the authorities that he is a Mexican citizen and wishes to speak to his consulate. He chose to not bring it up and so he dealt with the consequences. And honestly, it really doesn't matter who he had representing him. This is Texas. If you kill somebody here; we'll kill you back.

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

Not in my lifetime. Fat balding men in speedos making pyramids on holiday is just wrong.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

He was given due process...the same due process that's afforded US citizens in TX that commit crimes & probably more due process than an American illegally ( or legally ) in Mexico would get or even maybe a Mexican in Mexico?

Mexico has abolished the death penalty as have all other OECD countries except for this one and Japan.

[Robert&Liliya 31]

What you are really saying is because you think a person's crime makes them inhuman, that this then gives you licence to be similarly inhuman. I'm afraid it doesn't work like that,

He was given a fair trial, convicted and put to death in a far more humane manner then he deserved. You are wrong, he is dead so it works EXACTLY like that.

Mexico has given up the death penalty? They just send in the Army. Should we be like Mexico? Lets have the drug gangs rule. What Fun.

Edited July 9, 2011 by Robert&Liliya

[tmma 467]

Mexico has abolished the death penalty as have all other OECD countries except for this one and Japan.

Good info...Thanks. But I was talking about a fair trial.

[_Simpson_ 250]

Some posters on here care about the UN and international law and public opinion only when it affects far-away MidEastern countries that are beyond their local concern.

When it comes to the US they're happy to piss vinegar over such niceties with a cavalier "who cares?".

Bullshite! This man raped and killed a child and we dont give a dam that he was executed. Bringing the middle east into this, how laughable.

Just remember to also not care next time an American is stoned to death or shot in the neck in foreign lands for an infraction over there.

If he had raped and killed a child I would totally support it.

The simplest solution to all of this would be to outlaw the death penalty nationwide. Its a left over of a less civilized time. Anyone who screams for someone's blood is not civilized in my book.

Our executions are very humane, hardly a scream for blood. I find it ironic that life becomes so precious to you regardless of this mans sins but when it comes to abortion then well there a lot of "buts" in your book.

Alright, so savages then. Maybe I'll live to see the US become civilized.

If only Germany would have you back. We different over here, you might want to get used to it.

Mexico has abolished the death penalty as have all other OECD countries except for this one and Japan.

Who needs the death penalty when you have the Mexican cartel.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

If only Germany would have you back. We different over here, you might want to get used to it.

I am a US citizen and have, as such, every right to voice my opinion w/o having to listen to suggestions that I should just leave. Who the ** you think you are to feel entitled to decide what opinion on any subject another American can or cannot have. ** you!

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

I am a US citizen and have, as such, every right to voice my opinion w/o having to listen to suggestions that I should just leave. Who the ** you think you are to feel entitled to decide what opinion on any subject another American can or cannot have. ** you!

First, SOG talks about posting his vacation pictures (seriously, that Speedo doesn't fit) and next thing you know the large canine starts dropping the f-bomb. What's going on?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The European Union has called for Georgia to commute the death sentence of Troy Anthony Davis, who sits on death row for the killing of an off-duty Savannah police officer in 1989.

In a recent statement, High Representative Catherine Ashton said there are "serious and compelling doubts" about Davis' culpability in light of the recantations of a number of witnesses who testified for the prosecution at trial. Ashton also reaffirmed the EU's longstanding opposition to capital punishment.

http://www.ajc.com/news/metro-news-for-wednesday-976769.html?cxtype=rss_news_128746

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

For the record, in a case like this every conceivable legal procedure should have been followed to prevent any concerns over such issues. With respect to the penalty, I am ambivalent about capital punishment. I believe that I know what the visceral reaction of most of us is and I am also aware of the finality of execution. I would like to suggest that perhaps in such cases the perpetrator be exiled to some remote location, maybe an island somewhere, alone without any contact with the outside world. That would be the worst punishment that I can imagine short of execution. Why should the state and, by extension, ourselves be involved in murder? I would like nothing more than to have choked out this individual and send him on his way to Hell but that is what I feel in my heart, no matter how irrational or bloodthursty that might seem to some of you. and in any event, it would not bring back the victim or truly make any of us feel any better.

The European Union has called for Georgia to commute the death sentence of Troy Anthony Davis, who sits on death row for the killing of an off-duty Savannah police officer in 1989.

In a recent statement, High Representative Catherine Ashton said there are "serious and compelling doubts" about Davis' culpability in light of the recantations of a number of witnesses who testified for the prosecution at trial. Ashton also reaffirmed the EU's longstanding opposition to capital punishment.

http://www.ajc.com/n...rss_news_128746

This is why the death penalty concerns me. Once they are gone, you can't bring them back.

[jundp 191]

Our executions are very humane, hardly a scream for blood. I find it ironic that life becomes so precious to you regardless of this mans sins but when it comes to abortion then well there a lot of "buts" in your book.

Killing is wrong.

The death penalty is wrong. It *is* a product of a less-civilized society. It is not cheaper than life in prison. It does not deter crime.

I am also against abortion, before you say something about that.

If only Germany would have you back. We different over here, you might want to get used to it.

Are you for real? I am so tired of the VJ mainstay: "If you don't like it, go back to your own country." You're kind of an ####.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

For the record, in a case like this every conceivable legal procedure should have been followed to prevent any concerns over such issues. With respect to the penalty, I am ambivalent about capital punishment. I believe that I know what the visceral reaction of most of us is and I am also aware of the finality of execution. I would like to suggest that perhaps in such cases the perpetrator be exiled to some remote location, maybe an island somewhere, alone without any contact with the outside world. That would be the worst punishment that I can imagine short of execution. Why should the state and, by extension, ourselves be involved in murder? I would like nothing more than to have choked out this individual and send him on his way to Hell but that is what I feel in my heart, no matter how irrational or bloodthirsty that might seem to some of you. and in any event, it would not bring back the victim or truly make any of us feel any better.

This is why the death penalty concerns me. Once they are gone, you can't bring them back.

eta: Our adversarial system of justice makes this a game when all we want is the truth.