That the UN has to step in because the U.S. is in violation of human right’s laws is so shameful. The TX outlaw mentality went much too far this time – this will negatively affect our relationship with Mexico and how we are viewed around the entire world. See our statement on the Death Penalty under Issues>Pro-Life>Death Penalty.

Top official: Case ‘raises particular legal concerns,’ including whether Mexican citizen had access to consul, fair trial

From MSNBC — A top United Nations’ rights official said the United States was in breach of international law over the execution of a 38-year-old Mexican citizen in Texas.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Friday the Texas execution of Humberto Garcia Leal “raises particular legal concerns,” including whether he had access to consular services and a fair trial.

Pillay also cited a 2004 International Court of Justice ruling saying the U.S. must review and reconsider the cases of 51 Mexican nationals sentenced to death, including Leal’s — but, she said, that never happened.

Texas executed Leal Thursday over objections from President Barack Obama’s administration that the action would violate international treaty obligations and put U.S. citizens abroad at risk.

Leal was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., 10 minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing into his arms at a prison in Huntsville, Texas.

Leal was sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda, whose brutalized nude body was found hours after he left a San Antonio street party with her. She was bludgeoned with a piece of 30- to 40-pound chunk of asphalt.

In a last statement, Leal apologized to the victim’s family and asked for their forgiveness.

‘Irreparable breach’
The Obama administration warned that executing Leal would violate the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and leave U.S. citizens traveling abroad at higher risk of arrest without cause or denial of diplomatic representation.

Leal’s lawyers said Texas authorities did not inform him of his right to consult with Mexican consular authorities and violated the Vienna Convention, which guarantees foreign detainees the right to consult with representatives of their governments when they are arrested.

In legal briefs filed before the Supreme Court, the U.S. government had warned that the execution would create an “irreparable breach” of international law, and Mexico’s government said it would “seriously jeopardize” cross-border cooperation on joint ventures and extraditions.

Mexico strongly condemned the execution, lodged an official protest with the U.S. State Department and sent letters to Texas Governor Rick Perry “underscoring the importance of fulfilling the international obligations,” according to a press release from the Mexican Foreign Ministry.