re: #84 Decatur Deb

This would also be a good time to forget that Texas executed a Mexican citizen in violation of the agreed-upon requirements for diplomatic notice.

When that man was allowed to contact his consulate wouldn’t have made a difference in the case: He was clearly guilty of the murder he was convicted of. Commuting a sentence of that sort of triviality not related to his constitutional rights or actual guilt would have been a mistake.

The case you refer to was also remarkable for the division over it in Bill Clinton’s cabinet. While Secretary of State Albright wanted the execution halted and the death sentence commuted, Attorney General Reno got behind Texas and pushed.