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| Texas Refuses to Halt Execution |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/15/2002 |
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Despite requests from the Mexican government and the United Nations, the Texas parole board refused Tuesday to halt this week's scheduled execution of a Mexican citizen for killing a police officer. The Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 17-0 against commuting Javier Suarez Medina's sentence to life in prison. The panel also voted against recommending to Gov. Rick Perry that Suarez be given a 90-day reprieve. The Mexican government and the U.N. have asked U.S. authorities to stop Wednesday's execution. Supporters say the 33-year-old Suarez should be spared because he was not allowed legal help from the Mexican government when he was arrested for killing Dallas police officer Lawrence Cadena during an undercover drug transaction in 1988. Suarez, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, should have been informed that his Mexican birth entitled him to assistance from the Mexican government under terms of the Vienna Convention, a 1963 international agreement signed by the United States, supporters say. 'That issue was thoroughly reviewed by members,' said Gerald Garrett, chairman of the parole board. Authorities said it was unclear whether Suarez was born in Mexico. He told police he was from Mexico, but testified at trial that he was from El Paso. His accounts also varied as to how old he was when he arrived in Dallas. The Mexican Senate ran half-page advertisements in some Texas newspapers this week urging Perry and the parole board to approve clemency and for 'suspension of his execution, to allow a more exhaustive evaluation of his case.' Mexico President Vicente Fox also wrote Perry, calling the punishment 'illegal,' and discussed the issue by phone with the governor Monday. Similar appeals failed in 1999 to keep condemned inmate Stanley Faulder, who claimed to be Canadian, from the Texas death chamber. In November 2000, convicted killer Miguel Flores went to his death after arguments that he was denied legal help from Mexico were rejected. |
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