That's the title of an editorial in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The grisly crime for which Texas executed Humberto Leal on July 7 -- the 1994 rape and murder of a San Antonio teen -- makes it difficult to generate sympathy for him.
But the rule of law applies to everyone, even unsympathetic characters.
The law that brought an international glare to Leal's case was the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a 1963 treaty that obligates the United States and more than 160 other signatories to let foreigners they arrest ask their home embassies for legal help.
But when Leal, a Mexican citizen, was arrested, authorities didn't tell him about his right to contact his native country's embassy. He didn't find out about it until he'd been convicted and sentenced to death. And despite an international court's later ruling that he was entitled to a hearing over the deprivation of his consular right, he never got one.
U.S. officials acknowledge this country's treaty obligations toward citizens of other nations. Following the treaty is especially important because we expect other countries to let Americans detained abroad get aid from the U.S. Embassy.
But Leal was among dozens of Mexican nationals on Death Row in the U.S. who weren't told they could seek embassy help. A dispute over the issue has stewed for years.
And:
Though his case is over, that shouldn't remove the urgency of Congress approving legislation to make clear that this nation takes treaty promises seriously and will enforce them.
Linda Greenhouse discusses the case in her "Supreme Court Scorecard," freshly posted on her NYT blog. Coverage of her commentary will occupy the next post.
Earlier coverage of the Leal execution and international treaty law begins at the link.
Comments