Texas Set to Execute Mexican National Amid International Dispute Keri Blakinger - Chron
go to original October 25, 2017

Cardenas was convicted of the kidnap, rape, strangulation, and beating death of a 16-year-old girl (TDCJ )

Update: Mexico Is Pressing the U.S. to Spare One of Its Citizens Ahead of a Planned Execution (TIME)

Texas next month is poised to execute a Mexican national accused of rape and murder in a case that could further inflame border tensions over apparent violations of the Vienna Convention and international law.

The Mexican government is now funding legal efforts by Ruben Cardenas Ramirez to halt his execution after authorities neglected to notify Mexico about the arrest and failed to hold a review required by the United Nations' international court in The Hague.

"It is as if the United States were thumbing its nose at the government of Mexico and the United Nations," said Sandra Babcock, a Cornell Law School professor specializing in international issues surrounding capital punishment. "And when I say the U.S., I should be clear that we're talking about Texas."

To make matters worse, the condemned man's lawyer is alleging that he didn't actually commit the crime that earned him a death sentence in the first place.

But according to Hidalgo County prosecutor Ted Hake, the U.N. ruling is "not enforceable" and there's no mechanism to hold the required review under Texas law.

"There's no point," he said. "This guy is guilty as sin."

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has weighed in with a recommendation that the U.S. vacate the death sentence, and the Mexican government has pleaded for an opportunity to be heard, according to court filings by defense counsel Maurie Levin.

The Mexican consulate this week declined to comment.

Read the rest at Chron

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