BUSH nixes execution of illegal alien

[LuvMyPorsche]

So here we go again.

BUSH can't find a friend on the left OR the right.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/101107dnnattxdeathrow.1587ebcf7.html

An illegal alien Mexican raped, sodomized and strangled TWO teenage girls with a belt and shoe laces.

14 years ago he was sentenced to DEATH in the state of TEXAS.

BUSH admin is now arguing against the execution on ground of an infringement of International Law.

Can his approval reach single digits? He seems to have quite a "connection" with the Mexican gov't.

[LakeSamish706]

1. What an a**hole.... .. and I should make it clear that I don't believe in...

capital punishment at all, but when Bush was Governor of Texas if memory serves me right he had 152 to 154 people put to death under his watch.

[Deep13]

2. This may be the first thing he's done right since taking office. n/t

[LuvMyPorsche]

4. I understand

people who don't believe in Capital punishment... but in this case he's betraying a state and group of people who support (ed) him.

The father of the 14 yo girl met with BUSH several years ago where BUSH promised to keep the Criminal on Death Row.

THIS is an incredible flip-flop.

[Deep13]

8. It's not that I oppose capital punishment.

I'm skeptical of it. What I really meant is that the U.S. has to respect its treaty obligations. The prisoner was not advised of his right to have access to a Mexican consul when he was arrested. International courts (I forgot which one) ruled that failing to do so is reversible error.

[LuvMyPorsche]

10. fwiw

the murderer was born in Mexico but lived in TEXAS most of his life...

[MH1]

11. But if he comes under the treaty provision then the treaty takes precedence

And I agree with the poster above, when I heard this on the radio this morning, my first thought was "this may be the first thing Bush has gotten right."

Of course if it turns out that for some reason the murderer isn't covered under the treaty, then Bush would still be wrong. Although I am against capital punishment, Bush can't declare by his own whim when it will be applied and when it will not. (I think it should not ever be applied in the US or the world, but that is a different discussion).

[Exultant Democracy]

9. Lol, it wouldn't have been classic Bush, if he hadn't promied the father.

[Marrah_G]

3. Bizzaro world

[endarkenment]

5. poster distorts contents of news article cited.

"WASHINGTON – A Mexican national on death row in Texas is counting on the unlikely intervention of President Bush to save him from execution.

Jose Ernesto Medellin and the U.S. government are asking the Supreme Court to order Texas to abide by an international court ruling that found the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexican-born prisoners violated their rights to legal help as outlined in the 1963 Vienna Convention."

Bush hasn't 'nixed' anything yet. In fact only the supreme court can 'nix' this. However as there was a clear violation of law and official malfeasance in the conduct of this, and it seems something like 50 other cases, 'nix' would be a good thing.

[LuvMyPorsche]

6. actually that article is just one small piece

of the story

more details:

But 14 years later, Medellin still sits in a Texas prison cell as the White House argues that his conviction was flawed because Houston police failed to tell him of his right to seek help from the Mexican consulate.

Medellin's right to seek legal advice from Mexican diplomats is protected by the 1963 Vienna Convention, an international treaty that President Bush must follow under the U.S. Constitution, said Susan Gzesh, director of the human rights program at the University of Chicago.

"If the U.S. is going to disobey the obligations we've undertaken under the Vienna Convention, then other countries could retaliate," Gzesh said. "Bush is following the treaty."

The Supreme Court heard an oral argument Wednesday in the case of Medellin v. Texas, where the State of Texas presented arguments to counter those from the Bush administration and Medellin's attorney asked the court to set aside Medellin's conviction and death sentence and grant him a new hearing.

Medellin used a court-appointed attorney throughout his case but did not become aware of his right, as a Mexican national, to seek help from the Mexican consulate until after he was sentenced to death. That right extends from the 1963 Vienna Convention, of which the United States is a signatory, and the International Court of Justice found that the rights of Medellin, and 50 other Mexican-born U.S. inmates, were violated because they weren't informed of this right at the time their cases were being prosecuted.

The Bush administration was pulled into the case when Mexico sued the United States in 2003. The International Court of Justice ruled in Mexico's favor in 2004, ordering the United States to review the case. Bush wrote a presidential memo in 2005 saying that the U.S. would comply and order state courts to review the cases.

Bush later withdrew the United States from the Vienna Convention that gives the international court final say in international disputes. But that withdrawal did not change U.S. obligations to follow the treaty, Gzesh said.

The Supreme Court's ruling will determine whether the president has the power to order Texas state court to comply with the International Court's decision. The court will clarify presidential, congressional and court powers and what powers remain with the federal government versus the states.

"It is inexplicable that the president of the United States, our former governor, would turn his back on the families and on these victims and side with the world court and the Mexican government," said Dianne Clements, president of Houston's Justice for All, a criminal justice reform organization.

Texas executed 152 inmates while Bush was governor.

[Hippo_Tron]

7. Twilight zone, I agree with Bush on this one

[rodeodance]

12. I am not sure that headline is accurate as since we have withdrawn from the international court

we no longer have any say? ----that is my take on it.



.....State and federal courts rejected Medellin's claim when he raised it on appeal.

Then, in 2003, Mexico sued the United States in the International Court of Justice in The Hague on behalf of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row in the U.S. who also had been denied access to their country's diplomats following their arrests.

Mexico has no death penalty. Mexico and other opponents of capital punishment have sought to use the court, also known as the World Court, to fight for foreigners facing execution in the U.S.

The international court ruled for Mexico in 2004, saying the sentences and convictions should be reviewed by U.S. courts. Bush ordered state courts to give the prisoners new state court hearings.

Bush has since withdrawn the United States from the international agreement that allows the world court to have the final say when citizens claim they were illegally denied access to their diplomats when they are jailed abroad.