Texas to execute Mexican convicted of murder despite concerns

The US state of Texas plans to execute a Mexican national convicted of murder, over the objections of the US and Mexican governments.

Mexico says Wednesday’s execution of Edgar Tamayo, 46, will violate international law.

The country says he was not told of his right to seek legal assistance from the Mexican consulate when he was arrested.

US Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, has made the rare move of asking Texas to delay the execution.

In January 1994, Tamayo shot and killed police officer Guy Gaddis, 24, as he was being arrested for robbery. He was in the US illegally.

Gaddis, who had been on the Houston police force for two years, was driving Tamayo and another man when he was shot three times in the head and neck with a pistol Tamayo had concealed in his pants.

Texas executes more offenders than any other US state. Sixteen people were put to death last year in Texas, compared to seven in Florida, the state with the second-highest execution count.

Tamayo’s lawyers and Mexican officials say he was protected under a provision of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations that allows arrested citizens of foreign countries to receive legal assistance from their consulates.

But Tamayo was not notified of his right to seek consular assistance.

His lawyers argue such assistance could have uncovered evidence to contest the capital murder charge or to keep Tamayo off death row.

Texas officials maintain their procedures met US Supreme Court guidance.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from,” said Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Governor Rick Perry. “If you commit a despicable crime like this in Texas, you are subject to our state laws, including a fair trial by jury and the ultimate penalty.”

But Mr Kerry has asked Texas officials to delay the execution by lethal injection, scheduled for 18:00 local time on Wednesday (midnight GMT on Thursday), in order to review whether the lack of access prejudiced the outcome of the case.

In a letter to state officials, America’s highest ranking diplomat, a former prosecutor, said he had “no reason to doubt the facts of Mr Tamayo’s conviction” but was concerned about how the case could affect US-Mexico relations and the way Americans are treated overseas.


Source: Punch