Wait..What?
Leal is a Mexican national who kidnapped, raped and murdered a 16-year old girl
WASHINGTON, DC – The Obama administration has gone to the Supreme Court to seek a delay of the execution of convicted kidnapper, rapist and murderer Humberto Leal. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has written a letter to Texas Governor Rick Perry asking him to commute Leal’s death sentence.
In 1994 Humberto Leal, a Mexican national, viciously abducted, raped and murdered 16-year old Adria Sauceda.
The media has provided coverage on how Texas is denying Mr. Leal's rights, yet little has been reported on the details of the vicious and cruel murder for which Mr. Leal was convicted.
Facts of the case from Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott –
On May 20, 1994, sixteen-year-old Adria Sauceda and Humberto Leal were at a party. At some point an intoxicated but conscious Sauceda was placed in Leal’s car, and Leal got in the vehicle and drove away.
About thirty minutes later, Leal’s brother arrived at the party and yelled that Leal had come home with blood on him saying he had killed a girl.
Several of the party members went looking for Sauceda in the same general area where the party was held. They called police after they found her nude body on a dirt road. They noticed Sauceda’s head had been bashed in and it was bleeding.
When the police arrived, they saw the nude Sauceda lying on her back. There was a 30- to 40 pound chunk of asphalt lying partially on Sauceda's left arm. Blood was underneath this rock. A smaller rock with blood on it was located near Sauceda’s right thigh. Sauceda’s head was splattered with blood. There was a bloody and broken stick protruding from Sauceda’s vagina.
Later that day, police questioned Leal and searched his house. Police seized a blouse belonging to Sauceda that contained several blood stains, hair and fibers. The police also confiscated Leal’s clothing from the night of the murder. Blood and other bodily fluid were found on Leal’s underwear. Police found blood stains on the passenger door and seat of Leal’s car. Police later arrested Leal at his home.
A medical examiner testified that Sauceda died from blows to the head and that based on the injuries to her head, she would had to have been struck with the rock two or three times. The medical examiner said Sauceda’s neck also contained injuries consistent with manual strangulation and that she had three bite marks on her body that matched dental impressions of Leal’s teeth.
Leal admitted at his trial that as he was taking Sauceda from the party he turned in the opposite direction from the way she had directed him to drive and when she attempted to get out of his car he refused to allow her to do so. He testified that when Sauceda finally did exit his car, he attempted to pull her back, but said she began hitting, pushing, and scratching his face. He testified that when Sauceda scratched him, he pushed her, felt something wet on the back of her head, shook her in an unsuccessful attempt to wake her, and then fled in fear when he saw bubbles coming out of her nose.
The Obama Administration’s Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. has presented a friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court saying Leal’s execution by the State of Texas would, "place the United States in irreparable breach of its international-law obligation to afford (Leal) review and reconsideration of his claim that his conviction and sentence were prejudiced by Texas authorities' failure to provide consular notification and assistance under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations."
Obama’s administration asserts that Leal, who was an illegal alien living in Texas from the age of 2 to the time of the murder at age 34, was not offered access to a Mexican consular official at the time of his arrest.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for Navi Pillay, the U.N High Commissioner of Human Rights said, “The lack of consular assistance and advice raises concerns about whether or not Mr. Leal's right to a fair trial was fully upheld.”
The U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary of arbitrary execution, Christof Heyns, told CNN International, "If the scheduled execution of Mr. Leal Garcia goes ahead, the United States government will have implemented a death penalty after a trial that did not comply with due process rights."
"This will be tantamount to an arbitrary deprivation of life," Heyns said.
No, Mr. Heyns raping and beating a 16-year old girl to death with a block of asphault is arbitrary deprivation of life. Carrying out the death penalty against someone so callous and indifferent is called Justice.
Not good enough for President Obama. The Obama administration said in its brief to the Supreme Court, that delaying the execution of Leal would serve the interests of the United States as well as Leal’s interest.
"These interests include protecting Americans abroad, fostering cooperation with foreign nations, and demonstrating respect for the international rule of law."
I would like to see Mr. Obama demonstrate respect for U.S. law.
Leal has been found guilty by a jury of 12 United States Citizens. The facts were presented in a U.S. court according to the laws of the United States of America and the laws of the State of Texas. Mr. Leal had legal representation at his trial.
The Obama administration lost this same argument in district court already. The court of appeals has refused the Obama administration’s attempt to gain a delay in the execution of Leal.
Now, Mr. Obama presses the Supreme Court saying Leal’s execution “would have serious repercussions for United States foreign relations, law enforcement and other cooperation with Mexico, and the ability of American citizens traveling abroad to have the benefits of consular assistance in the event of detention."
Reality check: Can it get any worse in Mexico? Would executing Leal, a convicted child-rapist, cause more drugs to come illegally across our border? Would Leal’s execution cause more ICE agents to be murdered?
Texas has already issued a warning to American citizens advising them in the strongest terms possible not to travel to Mexico over the July 4th holiday weekend because of impending plans by the Los Zetas drug cartel to specifically target Americans in Nuevo Laredo.
Mr. Obama seems hell-bent to prevent the people of the United States from protecting themselves in anyway from death, drugs and economic ruin at the hands of Mexico.
Here are some more facts about Mr. Leal’s case and how he came to be on Texas death row.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY OF LEAL’S CASE -
08/17/94 - A Bexar County grand jury indicted Leal for capital murder.
07/11/95 - A Bexar County jury convicted Leal of capital murder.
09/17/97 - Leal filed an original application for a state writ of habeas corpus.
02/04/98 - Leal’s conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
02/22/99 - The Supreme Court denied Leal’s petition for certiorari challenging his conviction and sentence.
10/20/99 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied state habeas relief.
03/14/00 - Leal filed a petition for a federal writ of habeas corpus.
03/20/00 - Leal’s petition for certiorari challenging the denial of his first state habeas application was denied.
10/20/04 - A San Antonio federal district court denied habeas relief.
03/24/05 -Leal filed his second state habeas application.
10/13/05 -The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied a certificate of appealability and affirmed the district court’s denial of Leal’s first federal habeas petition.
04/17/06 - The Supreme Court denied Leal’s petition for certiorari relief challenging the Fifth Circuit court’s denial of a certificate of appealability.
03/07/07 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Leal’s second state application as an abuse of the writ.
03/14/07 - Leal filed his second federal habeas petition.
12/17/07 - A San Antonio federal district court dismissed Leal’s second federal habeas petition for lack of jurisdiction.
03/31/08 - The Supreme Court denied Leal’s petition for certiorari challenging the denial of his second state habeas application.
06/02/08 - Leal filed a motion for DNA testing in the trial court.
10/10/08 - The trial court denied Leal’s motion for DNA testing.
12/03/08 - The Texas Court of Appeals dismissed for want of jurisdiction Leal’s appeal of the trial court’s denial of DNA testing.
06/24/09 - The Fifth Circuit court reversed the federal district court’s holding that it lacked jurisdiction to consider Leal’s second federal habeas petition but nonetheless dismissed with prejudice based on Medellin v. Texas.
11/18/09 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Leal’s appeal of the trial court’s denial of DNA testing.
12/01/09 - Leal filed a Section 1983 lawsuit in federal district court.
04/21/10 - The federal district court dismissed Leal’s 1983 lawsuit without prejudice.
11/08/10 - The Bexar County trial court scheduled Leal’s execution for July 7, 2011.
03/28/11 - Leal and fellow death-row inmate Cleve Foster filed a lawsuit in a Travis County state district court challenging the lethal-injection protocol under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act.
04/28/11 - The Travis County court dismissed Leal’s lawsuit for want of jurisdiction.
05/18/11 - Leal filed a motion to amend his 1983 suit in a San Antonio federal district court.
06/07/11 - Leal filed a clemency petition with the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
06/10/11 - The Texas Court of Appeals affirmed the Travis County district court’s decision.
06/10/11 - Leal filed a motion for an evidentiary hearing in a San Antonio federal district court
06/14/11 - Leal filed a request for a temporary restraining order in a San Antonio federal district court.
06/16/11 - Leal filed his third federal habeas petition in district court and a motion for a stay of execution, a motion to stay and abate, a motion to consolidate this proceeding with his last federal habeas proceeding, and a 60(b) motion.
06/17/11 – Leal filed a petition for review with the Texas Supreme Court on the ruling of the Texas Third Court of Appeals on the lawsuit in a Travis County state district court that challenged the lethal-injection protocol under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act.
06/20/11 – Leal’s 1983 suit and request for a temporary restraining order were dismissed by a federal district court. Leal filed a notice of appeal on his 1983 suit.
06/21/11 – A federal district court denied Leal’s motion to open his second federal habeas petition and stay of execution. The court also denied his motion to consolidate with his third petition. The third habeas petition is pending.
06/22/11 – A federal district court dismissed Leal’s third federal habeas application without prejudice.
06/23/11 – Leal filed a second subsequent application for post-conviction writ of habeas corpus and a motion for a stay of execution in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
06/27/11 - Leal filed a motion for emergency relief in the Texas Supreme Court.
06/27/11 – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Leal’s application for a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus and his motion for a stay of execution.
06/28/11 –- Leal filed two motions for a stay, a cert petition and a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. Supreme Court.
06/30/11 –- Leal filed a motion for a certificate of appealability in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit appealing the dismissal of his third federal habeas petition.
06/30/11 -- The Texas Supreme Court denied Leal's petition for review on the ruling of the Texas Third Court of Appeals on the lawsuit in a Travis County state district court that challenged the lethal-injection protocol under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act. The court also denied Leal's motion for emergency relief this morning.
Leal’s clemency application remains pending.
Why is the President of the United States so interested in this case? Why is the U.N. trying to pressure a sovereign state into bending to its rule? Have any of these people ever met Rick Perry? Don’t they know that “Don’t Mess With Texas” is more than a slogan?
Texas Governor Rick Perry will sleep just fine on Thursday night, the scheduled date of Leal’s execution. Texans will all sleep better knowing a murderer of children will not return to those streets to murder again.
I have served on a jury in a murder trial. Our jury convicted and the accused was given the death penalty. In Texas a jury doesn’t gather around a table and say, “Let’s give this guy the death penalty.” In order for the death penalty to be applied, there must be evidence that the person convicted of murder might harm someone again if ever released back into society.
The jury in the Leal case had that evidence presented during the punishment phase of Leal’s trial and they learned that two weeks before Sauceda’s murder, Leal sexually assaulted another teenage girl and bit her on the neck.
The jury also learned that, following that assault, Leal had repeatedly telephoned the girl’s older sister and threatened to have someone kill her if she testified against him.
Humberto Leal received a fair trial, was found guilty, and was sentenced to death.
Why Barack Obama is trying, once again, to insinuate himself into the laws of a sovereign state and to defy the will of the people is beyond comprehension.
There is plenty on your plate already, Mr. President. Not the least of which may soon be an announcement that Rick Perry is running for President.
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