Texas Execution Still Scheduled

Despite requests from the Mexican government and the United Nations, the Texas parole board refused Tuesday to halt the scheduled execution of a Mexican citizen for killing a police officer.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles voted, 17 to 0, against commuting Javier Suarez Medina’s sentence to life in prison. The panel also voted against recommending to Gov. Rick Perry that Suarez be given a 90-day reprieve.

The Mexican government and the U.N. have asked U.S. authorities to stop today’s execution.

Supporters say the 33-year-old Suarez should be spared because he was not allowed legal help from the Mexican government when he was arrested for killing Dallas Police Officer Lawrence Cadena during an undercover drug transaction in 1988.

Suarez, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, should have been informed that his Mexican birth entitled him to assistance from the Mexican government under terms of the Vienna Convention, an international agreement signed in 1963 by the United States, according to supporters.

“That issue was thoroughly reviewed by members,” said Gerald Garrett, chairman of the parole board.

Authorities said it was unclear whether Suarez was born in Mexico.

The Mexican Senate ran half-page advertisements in some Texas newspapers this week urging Perry and the parole board to approve clemency and for “suspension of his execution, to allow a more exhaustive evaluation of his case.”

Mexico President Vicente Fox also wrote Perry, calling the punishment “illegal,” and discussed the issue by phone with the governor Monday.