On the eve of the scheduled execution of Mexican citizen Edgar Tamayo Arias, who was convicted of murdering a Houston police officer in 1994, the Mexican government is undertaking last-ditch efforts to halt the execution, which it says would be a violation of international law. CNN reports that attorneys for Tamayo Arias are scheduled to present arguments on Tuesday for a preliminary injunction which would keep Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles from considering the prisoner’s petition for clemency until a review of his case deems the process “adequate and fair”.
46-year-old Tamayo Arias, whose intellectual capacity was judged to fall in the range of “mild mental retardation” by a psychologist in 2008, is one of 50 Mexicans who have been convicted of crimes in the United States without being informed that they had the right to send notification of their arrest to their embassy or consulate, according to a 2004 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling. The court found that that failure to inform the suspects constituted a violation of international law, and ordered the US to review the cases. But if executed on Wednesday, Tamayo Arias would become the third Mexican from that group of 50 to be killed by the state without a review, after José Ernesto Medellín and Humberto Leal García were executed in 2008 and 2011.
The Mexican foreign ministry sent letters to the Texas governor and parole board at the end of December asking for a review of the case before execution, in compliance with the ICJ. That call echoes one made by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who expressed concern that the execution of Tamayo Arias without a review could negatively impact the treatment of detained Americans abroad. The case has also garnered significant attention in Mexico, particular in Arias’ home state of Morelos, where protests were recently held on his behalf.
The Guardian notes that in 2008, Gov. Perry pledged in a letter to then-Secretary of State Condolezza Rice and then-Attorney General Michael Mukasev that the state of Texas would ask “the reviewing court to address the claim of prejudice on the merits” if one of the Mexicans involved in the 2004 ICJ ruling “has not previously received a judicial determination of his claim of prejudice under the Vienna Convention and seeks such review in a future federal habeas proceeding”. But the office of Greg Abbott, current Texas attorney general, said last month in a letter to Tamayo Arias’ lawyers that the state has already carried out a review of the case during a 2011 hearing at an appeals court. Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for the governor, told the Guardian, "The governor’s letter speaks for itself. The attorney general is handling this legal matter. It doesn’t matter where you’re from – if you commit a despicable crime like this in Texas, you are subject to our state laws, including a fair trial by jury and the ultimate penalty.”
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