MEXICO: The uncle of Mexican man scheduled to receive death penalty, Humberto Leal Garcia, says he knows who the real killer is after Texas denies his appeal for a stay of execution

Record ID: 303832

  • Title: MEXICO: The uncle of Mexican man scheduled to receive death penalty, Humberto Leal Garcia, says he knows who the real killer is after Texas denies his appeal for a stay of execution
  • Date: 7th July 2011
  • Summary: LEAL GARCIA IN PHOTOGRAPH
  • Embargoed: 22nd July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA770L5OIDP1D7JZOZXYHMQN28E
  • Story Text: The family of a Mexican national who is set to be executed this week in Texas said he is innocent and added they hoped to see him soon.
    The U.S. government called on Texas to delay the execution of Humberto Leal Garcia until the end of this year because he was not told at the appropriate time of his rights to diplomatic counsel.
    Leal Garcia, 38, was convicted of raping a 16-year old girl and then bludgeoning her to death with a piece of asphalt in Texas. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on July 7.
    Leal Garcia's uncle, Alberto Rodriguez, who lives in Monterrey in Nuevo Leon state, said his nephew knows who the real killer is and he has witnesses.
    "He has witnesses who saw the real killer, who is walking free. He also lives in San Antonio but he's American," he said on Monday (July 04) as he showed photographs of his nephew at a wedding.
    Rodriguez added Leal Garcia had been stripped of his US citizenship upon his sentencing.
    "We'll wait for him here because if they've stripped him of his citizenship (US). For the moment of his sentence, he was stripped of his papers, they destroyed them. He's another Mexican over there who is paying for something he did not do. We'll wait for him here with open arms."
    Meanwhile, Leal Garcia's relatives held banners that read "Mexican Government, Please Help" as they asked for a meeting with Nuevo Leon state governor, Rodrigo Medina, which they obtained.
    The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday denied Leal Garcia's request for a reprieve or commutation of his sentence, leaving any final decision on his fate to either the Supreme Court or Texas Governor Rick Perry.
    A lawyer from the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, Silvia Vazquez, said they doing everything in their hands to halt the execution.
    "We have to review the areas where the procedure was violated. If we can present something to help prove his innocence, witnesses, evidence, whatever, that could help his situation to change his sentence."
    The U.S. State Department said the U.S. government had determined that when arrested, Texas authorities did not inform Leal Garcia of his right to have consular assistance from Mexican authorities, which, as a foreign national, he is entitled to under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
    A spokeswoman for Perry told Reuters that the governor has no plans to halt the execution and the Texas Attorney General's office has urged the Supreme Court not to intervene.
    Texas officials argue that Leal Garcia made statements to authorities before he was in custody and thus outside the purview of the Vienna Convention.
    The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court to delay the execution until the end of this year so Congress could pass legislation that would give Leal Garcia and other foreign nationals the right to federal review of his claim that he was not given the option of consular access.
    The administration warned that allowing his execution to go forward could have serious repercussions on U.S. foreign relations and implications for Americans arrested abroad.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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