Impending Humberto Leal execution draws in Rick Perry, Obama

Humberto Leal is seen in this undated handout photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

/ AP Photo/Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Updated 6:21 p.m. Eastern Time

The clock is ticking for Mexican national Humberto Leal, who is scheduled to be executed around 6 p.m. Central time for the 1994 kidnap, rape and murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda.

Leal's fate has implications that go beyond simply the alleged killer and the families and friends of those involved in the case. It could also have a significant impact on Americans arrested abroad, foreign nationals arrested on American soil, and perceptions of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination.

On the night she was killed, Sauceda was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine in San Antonio when she was gang raped by a group of men at a party, according to prosecutors. They say Leal showed up, said he was a friend of Sauceda's parents, and offered to take the teenager home. Her brutalized body was later found, leading to Leal's arrest and prosecution.

Leal says Sauceda's death was accidental, following a struggle by the side of the road; he denies raping her, and there is a lack of DNA evidence to show that he did. Without the rape conviction, Leal would not have been sentence to death.

The case has made national headlines because Leal, who was moved from Mexico to the United States as a young child, is among more than 50 Mexican nationals on death row who were apparently never informed that they could reach out to the Mexican government for legal help - in violation of international law.

"The Mexican government says that Leal was provided lousy counsel by the Texas public defender's office, and that had it know of the charges, the Mexican government would have provided Leal top-flight lawyers and experts, which it believes would have made a big difference in this death penalty case," reports NPR's Wade Goodwyn.

Mexico has pushed hard to stop Leal's execution, and the Obama administration last week asked the Supreme Court to delay it. The administration wants to give Congress time to consider and pass legislation allowing federal courts to review death penalty cases involving foreign nationals to see if the involvement of their consulate might have made a difference. 

UPDATE: The Supreme Court has refused to stay Leal's execution in a 5-4 vote.

Part of the administration's concern rests in the possible implication for U.S. citizens arrested abroad - who could potentially point to the treatment of Leal in denying Americans access to their government. While the U.S. government has signed the Vienna convention guaranteeing those arrested on foreign soil the right to consult with their government, Congress has not legally implemented it.

Without the Supreme Court stepping in, the only person who can keep Leal from being executed this evening is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has the power to delay the execution for 30 days. (He could only commute it with the backing of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.) Perry, who has in the past shown little interest in intervening in death penalty cases, seems unlikely to do so; his aides say international law has no jurisdiction in Texas.

"If you commit the most heinous of crimes in Texas, you can expect to face the ultimate penalty under our laws, as in this case, where Leal was convicted of raping and bludgeoning a 16-year-old girl to death," said Perry spokesperson Katherine Cesinger. As Cesinger notes, the Supreme Court ruled in a similar case in 2008 that international law was not binding, leading to the execution of another Mexican national.

Giving Leal a reprieve would carry political risk for Perry, who does not want to be seen as sympathetic to a convicted killer. Yet not doing so casts him as unwilling to consider the concerns of the international community - or the treatment of Americans arrested abroad.

In 2005, as The Atlantic notes, then-President George W. Bush ordered states to comply with international law and give consular access to foreign nationals. Perry, who succeeded Bush in the Texas governor's office, was the only governor to mandate his state not comply.

[T-Prop]

Hey Patriots - No Whining when one of our GI's is tried and - perhaps executed - for a supposed war crime, or the rape/slaying of an Okinawan national - as has happened on more than one occasion. What goes around, comes around to park itself on your front porch. Ha Ha Ha.

[Mortarman429]

Hey, if a U.S. soldier rapes/kills some japanese girl...then I hope Japan executes him.

[Bulverde_Texas_Hunter]

hes takin up space at our prison, we have an express line here and ur holdin it up, get it over with...Adiooossss!Good riddance

[4betterdays]

the man has lived here since he was 2 years old, national no. he was convicted 17 years ago, it was deemed then that this law didnt apply to him. whats happened the past 17 years, nothing. obumer wants hispanic votes. fry his ass

[klusk66]

1994. 2011 - 1994 = 17 years. 17 years they've had to work this out. He bludgeoned her with a piece of asphalt, and one piece still had a screw int it that he left in her head. Hmmm, not feeling a lot of sympathy here.

[twips182]

Lol at cbs saying alleged killer. This guy had a mountain of evidence against him and was convicted. He then lost all his appeals. Theres a pretty good chance This guy would have even been convicted in Flordia.

[retm-w]

Go ahead and execute him, but don't cry when the Mexicans take revenge on Americans in Mexico.

[agnesdeo]

retm-w Are you talking blackmail...we will become afraid of our own shadow.

[retm-w]

I don't want to hear all the crying when it happens.

[fsgkevin]

This is a State matter. He killed a young woman in Texas. Sorry Mexico, you should "educate" your citizens before you allow them to illegally enter the United States.... I'll chip in $2.00 to pay the electric bill. Oh, sorry, lethal injections is what we use in Texas.

[mlb828]

You don't sound to educated yourself. What kind of human being does it take to kill another, so what if they are hiding behind Texas law. Furthermore, look at the rate Texas kills people. They seem to relish in this barbaric behavior. I travel a lot and really cringe when this country does not work with other countries, according the guidelines that were set to protect us all.

[wmb1957]

I feel compassion for her family and her, he should be executed as that is fitting to the crime.

[tx4evr1]

Leal lived in the US presenting himself as a citizen of the US. He was not VISITING the US. US citizens who are visiting a foreign country or those visiting the US should be allowed to talk with their consulates. He committed a horrible act against another human being making a larger error in judgement in doing it in Texas. We do not like our residents being killed, we take it very personally. This piece of human filth should have his life ended today!!! If Perry wants to keep his standing with Texas residents, he better step aside and let this man die. My largest regret is that this piece of @@@@ should have been executed years ago. Texas needs to enact a fast lane to the death chamber for this type of criminal.

[agnesdeo]

I hope that Governor Perry will state firmly: May the Lord have mercy on his soul.!" and execute this raping muderder ASAP