THE END

Texas Executes Mexican Prisoner

Despite pleas from Obama.

Texas executed a Mexican citizen Thursday despite pleas from the White House that U.S. citizens abroad could face harsher punishments as a result. In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court rebuffed the request for a stay, and Humberto Leal was executed about an hour later. Leal was found guilty of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl in 1994, and in his last minutes of his life, Leal reportedly said he was sorry and accepted responsibility. In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague found that Leal and about 50 other Mexican citizens on death row had been denied their rights to contact consular officials, but the Supreme Court later disagreed.