The United Nations says the United States’ execution of Humberto Leal Garcia, Jr., a Mexican national convicted of raping and murdering a teen girl in 1994, violated international law.
In a statement, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the execution, which took place on Friday, puts the U.S. “in breach of international law … What the state of Texas has done in this case is imputable in law to the U.S. and engages the United States’ international responsibility.”
Pillay’s reasoning: Leal was not granted consular access, which he has a right to under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, meaning he was not able to communicate with the Mexican consulate. Pillay says this raises questions as to whether Leal was tried fairly.
The Obama administration attempted to get Texas Gov. Rick Perry to delay the execution so Congress could have time to act on the Consular Notification Compliance Act, according to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Neuland.
Perry refused, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution in a 5–4 decision.
Neuland told CNN the execution without granting Leal consular access was worrisome. “If we don’t protect the rights of non-Americans in the United States, we seriously risk reciprocal lack of access to our own citizens.”
(Lawyers protest Gov. Perry for not halting execution of Mexico-born murderer)
Ted Cruz, a former solicitor general in Texas, said there was no question a foreign national should be granted consular access. The problem with Leal, however, was that he waited too long to raise the issue. “The question is, years later … after it has been clear like Humberto Leal that they are a vicious child rapist and murder, should you come in and set aside that conviction,” Cruz said. “You can’t come back years later and try and set aside your trial with some additional claim you wish you had raised.”
Leal’s victim’s mother didn’t share the concerns of the Obama administration either. “A technicality doesn’t give anyone a right to come to this county and rape, torture and murder anyone, in this case my daughter,” she told a CNN affiliate. “We just want closure.”