Justice and MYOB

There's been quite a fuss lately over the scheduled (and now completed) execution of a Mexican citizen here in Texas who was convicted of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl. Most of the controversy has revolved around the claim that he wasn't informed of his 'right' to contact the Mexican consulate when he was arrested.

Mexican national executed in Texas

Humberto Leal Garcia Jr., a Mexican national convicted of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl in 1994, was executed by lethal injection Thursday evening in Texas.

The case's flurry of legal appeals and pleas for clemency were prompted by an international dispute over the rights of the foreign-born on American death rows.

The Supreme Court earlier denied a stay of execution for the convicted killer, despite opposition from the Obama administration and the Mexican government.

Memo to the obama administration: perhaps you should worry about prosecuting cases of voter intimidation and federal officials running guns into Mexico, and stay out of state matters.

Memo to the Mexican government: MYOB

Leal was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. CT (7:21 p.m. ET), according to a corrections spokeswoman.

"I am sorry for everything I have done," Leal said at the Huntsville facility before he was executed. "I have hurt a lot of people. Let this be final and be done. I take the full blame for this."

What made Leal's conviction unusual was that he was not informed about his right to contact the Mexican consulate upon his arrest -- a right guaranteed under a binding international treaty. Leal's appellate lawyers argued such access could at the very least have kept Leal off death row.

Mexico strongly condemned the execution, saying it violated an International Court of Justice ruling ordering the United States to review capital convictions of Mexican nationals.

Leal, 38, was convicted of raping Adria Sauceda, a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio, and then fatally strangling and bludgeoning her with a 35-pound piece of asphalt in 1994.

The victim's mother, Rachel Terry, had called for the execution.

"A technicality doesn't give anyone a right to come to this country and rape, torture and murder anyone, in this case my daughter," she told CNN affiliate KSAT in San Antonio. Terry described her daughter as "a beautiful, bright, vibrant young woman, full of hope and aspirations."

The state argued that Leal -- who has lived in the United States since age 2 -- never revealed his Mexican citizenship at the time of arrest, and his defense team never raised the consular access issue at or before trial.

Prosecutors also said the evidence against him was indisputable. The victim was tortured, and a bite mark on her body was matched to Leal. A bloody shirt belonging to Sauceda was discovered at the suspect's home. The two had attended a party separately earlier that evening. The girl's nude body was found on a dirt road.

This jerk lived here since he was two years old. He never claimed Mexican citizenship. There is no doubt about his guilt. None. Zero zip nada. He's even admitted it. So why the big fuss now?

To be clear: Leal was not denied access to the Mexican consulate. He never asked for access, and he never told anyone he was a Mexican national. In fact, if the cops had asked if he was a Mexican citizen they would have been guilty of racial profiling (at least according to all the libs who are opposed to cops doing that during arrests or traffic stops). All that happened was that Leal was not told that he had a right to contact the consulate. Furthermore, this wasn't even raised as an issue until several years and several appeals after the original trial.

My concern is reserved for the victim and her family. The killer has lived for 17 years after the crime. The victim lived for only 16 years - total.

I'll make all those bleeding heart foreign namby-pambys a deal. We'll start worrying about international law when foreigners stop raping and killing Texas girls.