"Mexico to Texas on convicted cop killer: Don't execute our citizen," is by Catherine E. Shoichet and Elwyn Lopez at CNN.
Mexico's government is trying to block the execution of a convicted cop killer in Texas this week, arguing that it would violate international law.
The case of Mexican citizen Edgar Tamayo Arias is the latest battle in a dispute over the rights of the foreign-born on American death rows. And U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said it could put Americans abroad at risk.
Tamayo, 46, was convicted in the 1994 murder of a Houston police officer, whom he shot three times in the back of the head, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
His attorneys are scheduled to present oral arguments Tuesday, calling for a preliminary injunction to stop the state's governor and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles from considering Tamayo's clemency petition until the process is "adequate and fair," read a statement from his team.
Mexico's Foreign Ministry said Sunday that going ahead with Arias' executionby injection, scheduled for Wednesday, would violate international law because Tamayo wasn't advised of his right to receive consular assistance.
Fox News Latino posts, "Attorneys For Mexican On Texas Death Row Argue For Last-Minute Stay Of Execution," by Bill Vourvoulias.
Attorneys for Edgar Tamayo Arias, a Mexican citizen scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday at 6 p.m., are presenting last-minute arguments before the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
They are requesting an injunction against the Texas Board of Pardons and Governor Rick Perry to stay his execution until Tamayo’s petition for clemency can be heard by the board.
“We’re making two arguments that have never been considered by the board before,” Northwestern University’s Sandra Babcock, one of Tamayo’s lawyers and a frequent advocate against the death penalty, told Fox News Latino. “Whether the state can execute mentally retarded prisoners is one,” she said, pointing out that his legal team had an expert apply an IQ test and Tamayo scored well below normal.
“The other is the violation of his consular rights,” Babcock added.
The 46-year-old Tamayo is a native of Miacatlán, in the Mexican state of Morelos, who was convicted of the January 1994 murder of Houston police office Guy P. Gaddis.
Tamayo’s case was one of 51 in the U.S. — 14 of them in Texas — that the International Court of Justice, the United Nation’s top judicial body, asked the U.S. to review in 2004 as part of an examination of possible violations of the Vienna Convention.
UPI posts, "Commission urges Texas to stay execution of Mexican national."
The scheduled execution of a mentally-disabled Mexican national violates international and U.S. law, a group urging Texas to halt the lethal injection says.
The execution of Edgar Tamayo Arias, scheduled to die Wednesday, puts at stake "Texas' respect for the Constitution of the United States and for international law," members of the International Commission against the Death Penalty wrote in an opinion piece published Sunday in the Latin Times.
Texas could violate the U.S. Constitution by executing Tamayo, convicted in 1994 of killing a Houston police officer, the article said, because he has been diagnosed with "mild mental retardation."
The authors of the article contend Texas violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to notify Mexican diplomatic officials of Tamayo's detention in 1994. Mexican authorities did not learn of his arrest until a week before his trial.
"Edgar Tamayo Arias News: International Commission Against The Death Penalty Condemns Execution," contains the OpEd written by Federico Mayor and Bill Richardson, members of the International Commission against the Death Penalty. Here's the beginning of the OpEd:
Edgar Tamayo Arias, an inmate on death row in Texas, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on January 22. At stake is not only the life of this 46-year-old Mexican national, but also Texas’ respect for the Constitution of the United States and for international law. It highlights how US states treat detained foreign nationals, especially those facing capital punishment.
The case has attracted widespread attention from several sources, including the US State Department, the Mexican government, the International Court of Justice and the international community.
Mr. Tamayo, a native of Mexico’s Morelos state who came to the US to find work when he was 19 years old, was sentenced to death in October 1994 for the murder of Houston police officer Guy Gaddis in January that year. We do not doubt the seriousness of the crime, but the execution of Mr. Tamayo would be a clear breach of US and international law.
As well as violating international law, Texas would be potentially violating the Constitution of the United States by executing a person with “mild mental retardation,” a condition with which Mr. Tamayo has been diagnosed.
In the spotlight is the importance of an international treaty, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Most countries, including the United States, are party to this convention, which provides a framework for consular relations between countries.
The Austin American-Statesman has published an OpEd by former Texas Governor Mark White, "Perry, Abbott should be true to their word in handling Tamayo case."
As a former Texas governor and attorney general, I know that Texans are proud and honorable people. As President George W. Bush used to say, “In Texas, you’re only as good as your word.” Right now our state and country’s reputation is resting on the word of two elected officials who I hope will keep Texas’ integrity intact. I urge them to fulfill promises they and previous Texas officials made about the cases of several Mexican nationals on our death row. One of these is the case of Edgar Tamayo, a Mexican national with mental disabilities scheduled to be executed Jan. 22.
Tamayo is one of ten Mexican nationals on Texas’ death row who, nearly a decade ago, were the subject of legal proceedings before the International Court of Justice — also known as the World Court. These cases caused international controversy because Texas authorities had violated their rights to have the Mexican Consulate notified of their detention under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a treaty the United States became party to more than 40 years ago. This is the same treaty that ordinary Americans — and thousands of Texans — rely on for protection when they find themselves in trouble overseas. It’s the treaty that allows all Americans who are detained while traveling, working or studying abroad to contact the U.S. Consulate to help defend their rights.
If American states, including Texas, fail to honor Vienna Convention rights for citizens of other countries, then how can we expect those other countries to protect our own rights? So it’s vital that Texas fulfill its promises regarding Tamayo.
Earlier coverage of the case of Edgar Tamayo Arias begins at the link.
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