Bush, Texas at Odds Over Death Case

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

To put it bluntly, Texas wants President Bush to get out of the way of the state's plan to execute a Mexican for the brutal killing of two teenage girls.

Bush, who presided over 152 executions as governor of Texas, wants to halt the execution of Jose Ernesto Medellin in what has become a confusing test of presidential power that the Supreme Court ultimately will sort out.

The president wants to enforce a decision by the International Court of Justice that found the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexican-born prisoners violated their rights to legal help as outlined in the 1963 Vienna Convention.

That is the same court Bush has since said he plans to ignore if it makes similar decisions affecting state criminal laws.

"The president does not agree with the ICJ's interpretation of the Vienna Convention," the administration said in arguments filed with the court. This time, though, the U.S. agreed to abide by the international court's decision because ignoring it would harm American interests abroad, the government said.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3698999

[saigon68]

1. The Chimp Loves to YANK the switch

And mock the soon to be corpse.

He gets a sexual thrill from killing

[Acadia Blue]

9. You got this right. Remember Karla Tucker???

[bluestateguy]

2. Texas has the right to enforce its laws

This administration has never had any respect for states rights anyway.

[China_cat]

3. Funny...the ONLY clemency he ever granted

while governor was for Henry Lee Lucas. One of the most despicable, gross killers of all times.

[ProudDad]

4. Lucas was white...

Hate to come to the aid of bush -- he don't deserve it -- but...

"Beyond his recantation, some of Lucas' confessions have been challenged as inaccurate by a number of critics, including law enforcement and court officials. Lucas claimed to have been initially subjected to poor treatment and coercive interrogation tactics while in police custody, and that he confessed to murders in an effort to improve his living conditions. This calls into question many of his alleged murders, since his confessions were often the sole evidence cited in favor of his guilt, especially his sole death penalty conviction. Amnesty International reported "the belief of two former state Attorneys General that Lucas was in all likelihood innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced to death."

Lucas' sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1998 by then-Governor George W. Bush. His was the only death penalty case among the 153 that came across Bush's desk in his tenure as Texas Governor in which he intervened and commuted the death sentence. Lucas died in prison of natural causes. Though Lucas' death seemed to have removed the possibility of resolution in many instances, there are still a number of unresolved or open questions. Some authorities — while admitting that Lucas tended to exaggerate his accounts and told some outright lies, and also recognizing that the Lucas Task Force engaged in some very questionable tactics — insist that Lucas was a viable suspect in a number of unsolved murders. Despite these factors, Lucas still maintains a reputation, in the words of author Sarah L. Knox, "as one of the world's worst serial killers — even after the debunking of the majority of his confessions by the Attorney General of Texas."


If I loath anything more than bush it's the tendency of the operatives in the criminal-injustice system to railroad people. DAs and cops lie and cheat -- anything for a conviction. They're MUCH more of a clear and present danger in the microcosm than bush is...

[China_cat]

7. Bush accepted Lucas' confessions

at face value, though...not as what they turned out to be. He commuted the death sentence of someone he truly believed to be a mass murderer/torturer while allowing the retarded, the young and the really questionable to die. I believe Bush thought he was seeing a kindred soul.

[ProudDad]

8. Just to be exactly clear

the death penalty should be immediately abolished.

I've covered this elsewhere -- it doesn't deter, it doesn't heal, it's corrosive of society as a whole...

The Civilized world has decided to do away with it entirely!

We're the lone holdout among allegedly "advanced" societies.

[China_cat]

11. I absolutely agree.

-- it doesn't deter, it doesn't heal, it's corrosive of society as a whole...

And it is applied in a manner that is discriminating against segments of the population who happen to be poor and of a browner color than allowed to escape it.

[tammywammy]

14. How many times did the Texas Board of Pardons

recommend clemency for someone on death row during Bush's governorship? I've been looking and can't find a definitive list.

The Texas Governor cannot commute a death sentence, unless the Board of Pardons has recommended it. I wonder if there were more recommendations and Bush ignored them? I doubt it though, the Board isn't known for recommending clemency.

[China_cat]

15. I imagine they would do it if they thought the governor

wanted them to. Their jobs are appointed by him, after all.

[tammywammy]

16. Of course

But I'm wondering if there's a list of sentences they have recommended to commute. :shrug:

[China_cat]

17. From what I understand

Lucas' was the only one.

[depakid]

5. "....abide by the ICJ's decision because ignoring it would harm American interests abroad."

That sure begs some questions.

[melody]

6. As if the pResident knows anything about the Vienna Convention

Unless it was in color book form and Uncle Dick let him use his eraser.

[Acadia Blue]

10. Really. Remember he has a history degree but knows no history.

Daddykins paid for his degrees so he could pary and drink and still get diplomas.

[melody]

12. And he'd never been to Europe even though there were pics of him in Scotland and France lol

He's a liar AND a moron.

[superconnected]

13. the article is really about bush contradicting himself.

They're saying that bush said he'd ignore the vienna convention regulations and kill people if he wants, and now he's saying he'll cite the vienna convention regulations to save this man - but he's saving him for international affairs reasons only.

So he wants good ties with mexico. Had this man been any other country then bush chooses to ignore the vienna convention and kill the guy.

I'm going to guess that it all comes down to a very close election year and trying to get the mexican-american vote.