quote:
The US Supreme Court has ruled that President George W Bush cannot force the state of Texas to reconsider the case of a Mexican man on death row.Jose Ernesto Medellin was sentenced to death in 1994 for rape and murder.
In 2004, an international court said he and 50 other Mexicans should get new hearings as they had had no access to consular officials upon their arrest.
Mr Bush ordered Texas to comply but the Supreme Court justices decided 6-3 that he had overstepped his authority. ...
Medellin was arrested in June 1993, a few days after the killings of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16. He later made a written confession.
At the time of his arrest, police did not tell him that he could request assistance from the Mexican consulate - in violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention.
In 2003, Mexico filed a lawsuit at the ICJ against the US, on behalf of Medellin and 50 other Mexican nationals on death row in the US who had also not received consular support.
The court ruled in Mexico's favour, and ordered that their cases be reviewed.
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posted 25 March 2008 07:59 PM
