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	Execution Case Important to International Relations The Statesman June 11, 2011 http://www.statesman.com/opinion/execution-case-important-to-international-relations-1532472.html The Golden Rule of life also applies to the tricky business of international relations. What we do to non-Americans in our country we can reasonably expect to be done unto Americans in other countries. It is for that reason that Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles — both in the uncommon position of making a decision with international impact — should commute or postpone the death sentence of Humberto Leal, a Mexican raised in Texas, scheduled to die July 7 for the 1994 murder of Adria Sauceda, 16, in Bexar County. The key issue in this case at this point is not whether Leal committed the crime. Also not central now are the circumstances involving Leal, including sexual abuse by a priest, a challenging family history and other factors that, though significant, fail to add up to justification for murder. They could, however, count as mitigating factors that argue for a life sentence. It's what happened after Sauceda was killed that is at issue. More specifically, it's what didn't happen. Despite the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations requirements, Leal was not informed of his right to contact Mexican officials to seek legal assistance. Records indicate that he was not aware of that right until told about it by a fellow death row inmate. Instead of getting legal help from Mexican consular officials, who have a track record of providing quality legal representation for Mexicans facing the death penalty in the U.S., Leal was represented by a court-appointed team that included a lawyer who twice had his license suspended. Back in 2004, the International Court of Justice said Leal was entitled to a hearing to determine the extent of harm he suffered as a result of the lack of consular access. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has said the U.S. must comply with the decision by the international court. Texas, citing state law, said no such hearing could take place. Congress now is poised to consider legislation, to be filed in coming weeks, that would establish a procedure for a federal court hearing on the extent of harm caused to Leal because he was not advised of his right to contact Mexican officials. In a clemency petition filed this week, an impressive list of former U.S. diplomats, retired military leaders and others concerned about international matters urged a stay of execution to grant Congress time to deal with this case. At stake, they said, are the consular rights of Americans who become entangled in legal problems while out of the country. "For Texas to proceed with (Leal's) execution prior to full compliance with these treaty obligations would endanger the interests of American citizens and the United States around the world," John B. Bellinger III, a State Department legal adviser in the George W. Bush administration, said in a letter signed by others and delivered to Perry. The former military leaders told Perry that "improving U.S. enforcement of its consular notification and legal access obligations will help protect American citizens detained abroad, including U.S. military personnel and the families stationed overseas." Sandra L. Babcock, a Northwestern University law professor representing Leal, said he would not have been convicted if he had received proper consular assistance. We have no way of knowing that. But there is no arguing with Babcock's contention that "with consular access, Mr. Leal would have had competent lawyers and expert assistance that would have transformed the quality of his defense." And, as she noted, Mexican officials have developed expertise in helping Mexicans facing the death penalty in the U.S. "It really is a very modest remedy we are talking about," Babcock said. Modest, indeed, but with important international ramifications.
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