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Texas Set To Execute Cop-Killing Mexican Citizen
With just days to go before Texas plans to execute Edgar Tamayo, a citizen of Mexico, various Latino civil rights organizations are calling for a review of the case. They say Texas violated Tamayo’s right of access to the Mexican consulate.
In 1994, Tamayo was convicted in the shooting death of a Houston police officer during an arrest. The state of Texas is planning on giving Tamayo a lethal injection for that crime on Jan. 22.
Lawyers for Tamayo argue he was not given his rights under the Vienna Convention at the time of his arrest, that treaty stating everyone has a right to contact their consulate after being arrested in a foreign country.
Margaret Moran, National President of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said six years ago Texas had promised the courts it would review Tamayo case but it has not done so.
“The fact is that Governor [Rick] Perry and Attorney General [Greg] Abbott are breaking their promise by refusing at every turn to allow a review of this undisputed consular rights violation and the fact is that should they allow a review of this case he would not be executed," Moran said.
The state of Texas did received letters from both Secretary of State John Kerry and the Mexican ambassador to the U.S., both urging the court not the set an execution date. They say that allowing the execution would be detrimental to the United States-Mexico relationship.