"Federal judge won't stop Mexican's execution," is the AP report filed by Michael Graczyk. It's via the Houston Chronicle.
A federal judge has refused to stop the upcoming execution of a Mexican national convicted of the 1994 rape-slaying of a 16-year-old San Antonio girl.
Humberto Leal, 38, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, faces lethal injection July 7 in Huntsville.
Leal's attorneys argued his punishment should be blocked because he wasn't told he could contact the Mexican consulate for legal help after his arrest for the murder of Adria Sauceda. They also said a bill introduced last week in Congress would allow federal courts to review cases of condemned foreign nationals.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled Wednesday the consulate claim was "utterly lacking in arguable merit."
He also said the measure introduced June 11 by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy was "a mere proposal" and that similar attempts have failed twice in recent years.
"It is not an enactment of new law," Garcia said.
Leal's attorneys presented several dozen former diplomats, State Department officials and retired military officers backing their appeal and the likelihood that Leahy's measure would pass Congress.
Garcia dismissed them as "little more than highly speculative predictions from a variety of political science professors and a handful of hopeful executive branch and congressional officers."
Sandra Babcock, an attorney for Leal and a Northwestern University law school professor, said Garcia's decision would be appealed.
"With consular access, Mr. Leal would have had highly qualified and experienced lawyers and expert assistance that would have transformed the quality of his defense," she said. "The legislation before Congress is narrowly tailored to provide review for precisely this kind of case where lack of consular assistance may have made the difference between life and death.
"Mr. Leal is constitutionally entitled to receive a stay of execution while Congress is considering taking the necessary measures to remedy this serious violation."
Earlier coverage of the Leal case and the federal legislation begins at the link.
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