Bush Orders Hearings for Mexicans on Death Row
WASHINGTON — President Bush, in a bow to international law, has decided that the 49 Mexican nationals who are on death row in California, Texas and other states are entitled to new hearings to see if they were harmed by the failure of authorities to tell them of their right to seek the aid of Mexican officials.
The presidential order -- if it stands -- could eventually lead to the release from death row of as many as 28 Mexican inmates in California and 15 in Texas, as well as others in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon.
It may also affect dozens of other foreign nationals who have been condemned to death across the country.
The president's order was issued last week without fanfare. It puts the former Texas governor in the unusual spot of challenging Texas officials on the validity of death sentences in the Lone Star State.
Texas Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott questioned Tuesday whether the president had the authority to tell the state courts to reopen these old cases.
"We respectfully believe the executive determination [issued by Bush] exceeds the constitutional bounds for federal authority," Abbott's office said in a statement. California officials had no comment.
Bush's action was triggered by a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice, known as the World Court, that the U.S. had violated the Vienna Convention by failing to notify Mexican officials when Mexican nationals were arrested and charged with serious crimes.
In the Vienna Convention of 1963, the U.S. and most other nations agreed to protect their citizens by requiring that they be informed whenever one of their nationals was "arrested or committed to prison." Local authorities must also tell the arrested person of his rights.
This treaty protects Americans when they live or travel abroad.
However, its requirements have been widely ignored by U.S. police and prosecutors when foreign nationals are taken into custody.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case this month that tests whether Jose Medellin, a Mexican national who is on death row in Texas, has a right to a new hearing in federal court after the World Court ruling.
Two years ago, Mexico took the issue to the World Court on behalf of 51 Mexicans who were held on death rows across the U.S.
The lead plaintiff, Carlos Avena Guillen, was charged with murder in Los Angeles in 1980 and sentenced to death in 1981. Mexican officials say they did not learn of the Avena case until the mid-1990s.
