Last modified: 02:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Mexico requests leniency for citizen on death rowGovernment may ask high court to spare life of citizen set to die in Dallas officer's slaying
08/13/2002
WASHINGTON – The Mexican government said Monday that it will petition the Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to keep Texas from executing a condemned Mexican citizen.
It said it would act if the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refuses to spare the life of Javier Suarez Medina, 33, who is scheduled to die by injection Wednesday for the slaying of undercover Dallas Officer Lawrence R. Cadena in 1989.
At issue is whether Mr. Suarez was denied his right to assistance from the Mexican Consulate – as guaranteed by international treaty – when he was arrested.
The Mexican Embassy said Mr. Suarez deserves leniency because Texas officials violated Article 36 of the Vienna Convention, which says that foreign citizens have the right to contact their consulate for legal assistance if they are arrested and charged with a crime.
"There is no question that the execution would violate international law," said Sandra Babcock, lead attorney for the Mexican foreign ministry's Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program. "It would not be just a technical violation, but a very significant and inexcusable violation."
Lori Ordiway, chief of the appellate division for the Dallas County district attorney's office, said Mr. Suarez had numerous attempts to claim his rights under the Vienna Convention but failed to do so until now.
She said that the planned appeals on behalf of Mr. Suarez are "a last-ditch attempt to avoid his rightful sentence."
Ms. Ordiway said Mr. Suarez added to the confusion of whether he was a U.S. or a Mexican citizen by saying at one point that he was born in El Paso. He later recanted.
"There is evidence in the record prior to trial he gave a confession to the police in which he said he was born in Mexico," she said. "But even if we give the defendant the benefit of the doubt, he's not the kind of defendant that international law contemplates.
"He's been here since he was a boy, raised and educated, reads and writes in the English language. So there was no indication of help needed from the Mexican Consulate."
A Dallas County jury sentenced the then-19-year-old Mr. Suarez for the capital murder of Officer Cadena, a 17-year Dallas police veteran who died during an undercover drug purchase in East Dallas. Mr. Suarez shot Officer Cadena seven times with a machine gun, according to witnesses.
The Mexican government said that at the time of the killing, Mr. Suarez carried a resident alien card, or "green card."
On three separate occasions, the Mexican Consulate in Dallas called the Dallas district attorney's office to inquire whether he was a Mexican citizen, according to an affidavit of Oliver Albert Farres Martins, the Mexican consul general in Dallas at the time. The affidavit said the district attorney's office replied that he was either Cuban or Colombian.
"During the latter phases of the trial, consular staff heard Mr. Suarez Medina speaking on television and observed that he had a Mexican accent," Mr. Farres Martins said, adding that he again contacted the district attorney's office. "This time we were told that his nationality was 'unknown' and that the computerized records of the Police Department did not reflect his nationality."
During Monday's news conference, Mexican government officials made it clear that they are not seeking a pardon for Mr. Suarez but requesting that Texas respect the Vienna Convention and allow more time for diplomacy.
"Although the date of the execution leaves us very little time, we might get in due course a decision of commutation or a reprieve of 90 days," said Juan Manuel Gomez-Robledo, legal adviser to Mexico's foreign relations secretary.
The embassy's action comes days before President Vicente Fox's scheduled Aug. 26-28 Texas visit with President Bush. Mr. Fox has written a letter to Gov. Rick Perry, and Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda contacted Secretary of State Colin Powell asking that Mr. Suarez be given life in prison.
When asked about the case Monday, Mr. Perry said it was being handled appropriately. "It will be handled as it would any individual who commits a heinous crime against our citizens," Mr. Perry said.
The Mexican government's strategy is similar to one used a year ago in another case. Mr. Fox telephoned Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and persuaded him to commute Gerardo Valdez's sentence to life without parole because of a violation of the Vienna Convention.
However, several previous protests of U.S. executions of Mexican citizens on grounds that the consulate was not advised have failed, including in Texas.
Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Texas is believed to have executed seven foreigners: a Canadian, four citizens of Mexico, a native of the Dominican Republic and a Vietnamese citizen.
In the most recent case, Miguel Angel Flores, 31, was executed Nov. 9, 2000. He was convicted of abducting a college student at knifepoint as she left work, sexually assaulting her and then stabbing her to death.
Twenty-seven foreign citizens are awaiting execution on Texas' death row, including Mr. Suarez. Eighteen are citizens of Mexico.
Staff writer Ed Timms in Dallas contributed to this report.
