DEATH ROW--death penalty in America

[Lady Cop]

rest of story at link:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/07/03/texa...?hpt=ju_c2


The case of Humberto Leal Garcia Jr. is pending at the U.S. Supreme Court, which will decide whether to issue a stay of execution and whether to decide the broader legal question of what rights death row inmates from foreign nations deserve.

The Monterrey, Mexico, native's supporters say his fate could impact those Americans traveling abroad who, like Hayes, run into legal trouble.

The 38-year-old Leal was convicted of raping Adria Sauceda, a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio, then fatally strangling and bludgeoning her with a 35-pound piece of asphalt in 1994.

What makes his conviction unusual is that after his arrest he was not informed about access to the Mexican consulate he should have had under a binding international treaty. His appellate lawyers argue such access could at the very least have kept Leal off death row.

"I think in most of these cases it was not a deliberate thing. Local police lack training on (the Vienna Convention)," Sandra Babcock, Leal's defense lawyer of three years, told CNN in a phone interview.

Babcock argues Mexican officials would have ensured Leal had the most competent trial defense possible, if they had been able to speak with him right after his felony arrest.

Leal's backers say he has learning disabilities, brain damage and suffered from sexual abuse at the hands of his parish priest. They claim he did not learn of his consular access rights until two years after his capital conviction, and not from any official, but from a fellow prisoner.