(Image Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice)
BY JJ BAILEY
Mexican Citizen Humberto Leal Garcia has been Executed in Huntsville, Texas. He was pronounced dead at 7:21 p.m. ET following lethal injection. This comes days after President Obama appealed to Texas Governor Rick Perry to stay the execution.
"Texas Governor Rick Perry's office released a statement that reads in part, "if you commit the most heinous of crimes in Texas, you can expect to face the ultimate penalty under our laws. As in this case, where Leal was convicted of raping and bludgeoning a 16-year-old girl to death." Video: Fox News
According to the Guardian, Obama reached out to the supreme court mere hours before Garcia was set to die in an attempt to stay the execution.
“Shortly before Leal was led in to the death chamber in Huntsville, the supreme court rejected by 5-4, an appeal from the White House to block the execution on the grounds it was in breach of an international convention governing the treatment of foreigners who are arrested and would therefore do “irreparable harm” to America’s interests.”
According to The New York Times, the majority position was that the Violation of the Vienna treaty had no effect on the outcome of the case, and a new trial would have done Garcia no good.
Garcia had been on Death Row since 1995, when he was convicted of the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl. CNN has his final statements.
"I am sorry for everything I have done...I have hurt a lot of people. Let this be final and be done. I take the full blame for this." Leal then shouted "Viva Mexico," followed by "I'm ready warden, let's get the show on the road."
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