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Thread: Ruben Ramirez Cardenas - Texas Execution - November 8, 2017

  1. #11
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Texas set to execute Mexican national amid international dispute

    Texas next month is poised to execute a Mexican national accused of rape and murder in a case that could further inflame border tensions over apparent violations of the Vienna Convention and international law.

    The Mexican government is now funding legal efforts by Ruben Cardenas Ramirez to halt his execution after authorities neglected to notify Mexico about the arrest and failed to hold a review required by the United Nation's international court in The Hague.

    "It is as if the United States were thumbing its nose at the government of Mexico and the United Nations," said Sandra Babcock, a Cornell Law School professor specializing in international issues surrounding capital punishment. "And when I say the U.S., I should be clear that we're talking about Texas."

    To make matters worse, the condemned man's lawyer is alleging that he didn't actually commit the crime that earned him a death sentence in the first place.

    But according to Hidalgo County prosecutor Ted Hake, the U.N. ruling is "not enforceable" and there's no mechanism to hold the required review under Texas law.

    "There's no point," he said. "This guy is guilty as sin."

    The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has weighed in with a recommendation that the U.S. vacate the death sentence, and the Mexican government has pleaded for an opportunity to be heard, according to court filings by defense counsel Maurie Levin.

    The Mexican consulate this week declined to comment.

    The former security guard was arrested for the 1997 slaying of his 15-year-old cousin, Mayra Laguna, whose body was found in a canal after she was abducted by a man who slipped in through the bedroom window.

    The case has been plagued by claims of unreliable forensic evidence, conflicting statements and witnesses, concerns about ineffective lawyers, and allegations of a coerced confession.

    Yet it was the concerns about treaty violations and international repercussions that pushed the U.S. Department of State to meet in February with Hidalgo County prosecutors. For now, the Nov. 8 execution date still stands.

    "It makes us a clear human rights abuser," said Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center.

    Human rights concerns

    Authorities in Hidalgo County first collared Cardenas hours after the abduction, but did not immediately notify him of his right to talk to his country's consulate, according to court documents — an apparent oversight that violates Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

    A 2004 U.N. World Court ruling known as the Avena case — an issue Babcock argued for Mexico — mandates that foreign nationals who weren't told of their consular rights are allowed a review to examine whether that oversight influenced the outcome of the criminal case.

    And for Cardenas, there's some chance that it could have. Hidalgo County never told Mexico about the arrest, Levin said. Instead, they found out on their own after five months, long after Cardenas had given multiple, conflicting confessions that Levin argues were coerced.

    Repeatedly, Cardenas asked for a lawyer, but authorities ignored his pleas until 11 days after his arrest, instead pushing on in their interrogations without telling him about his consular notification rights, Levin wrote in court filings.

    Although the treaty violation could have international repercussions, a 2008 Supreme Court decision deemed it unenforceable, unless Congress takes legislative action — and they haven't.

    In the meantime, some states have complied, but others have not.

    "There are Mexican nationals whose rights under the Vienna convention have been violated and they have been executed," Levin said.

    Conflicting evidence

    Yet the Cardenas case stands out.

    "This is the first case where there has been a really substantial miscarriage of justice in that Cardenas really could be innocent," Babcock said. "Although there is a confession, that confession is inconsistent with the physical evidence, the statements are inconsistent with each other, and he himself is of low intelligence. And then on top of that you have a lack of physical evidence."

    Now, Cardenas has few remaining shots at avoiding the death chamber.

    There's a motion pending in Hidalgo County court for DNA testing of scrapings taken from beneath Mayra's fingernails. The prosecution has already opposed the request, which came coupled with a motion to call off the execution.

    "To permit Mr. Cardenas's execution to proceed without permitting this testing would fly in the face of the most fundamental concept of justice," Levin wrote in a scathing filing.

    At the same time, there's a long-shot plea for a reprieve and sentence commutation in front of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, and a request for a 30-day reprieve pending before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

    If the capital sentence goes forward as scheduled, some worry it could have ramifications abroad.

    "When we allow executions to occur in situations like this," Dunham said, "we place Americans in danger abroad because we risk that other countries will mistreat our nationals the same way our courts are mistreating theirs."

    http://m.chron.com/news/houston-texa...d-12302934.php
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  2. #12
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Does anyone else find these liberals crying about international law exhausting? The laws have no place here. Cardenas committed his crimes on our soil and is subject to our laws.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  3. #13
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    The media always headlines and calls the inmates what they want. They claim they are a retard then the media will call them that to defend them. If the inmate invents a nickname a week before an execution the media will call them that. When its clear that the inmate is guilty and isn't claiming mental retardation then they talk about a rough childhood they had. It's never ending excuses that the media and inmates push.

    Cardenas's main appeals are about him being a foreign national and being denied his rights so the media will push this claim. And they should stop calling Durham an expert on the death penalty its been a year since Hurst and he still doesn't understand what the supreme court ruled.
    Last edited by Mike; 10-24-2017 at 04:33 PM.

  4. #14
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    the whole "international law" is a crock, thankfully its already been upheld by the USSC that its unenforceable. i am worried, however, about the TCCA stepping in and staying this over dna or coerced confessions or whatever.

  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Legend FFM's Avatar
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    My only worry is that the CCA will step in again as it has for many others since Articles 11.073 and 11.071 were modified in 2015, thereby resulting in more last-minute stays. I'm still trying to draw more support to change the law back to the way it was before, but to no avail yet. Garcia White, Bernardo Tercero, and that thug John Battaglia, as well as many others were given stays because those articles were modified to make it easier to get one and buy more time.

    As for the UN, their rulings mean absolutely nothing. The state of Texas is its own state that is only bound by the federal constitution and its own constitution, and therefore their jurisdiction does not and should not hold here, ever. They have some nerve sticking their rulings in our mouths and telling us what to do. So guess what we say to that? Don't mess with Texas and our beliefs! Or else we will mess with you!

  6. #16
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    The United States sign the Vienna Convention on Consular Relation on 24th of April,1963. The Convention was Ratified and returned it on the UN by 24 November 1969. The convention in Art. 36 requires that arrested or detained foreign nationals to be informed without delay of the right to have their embassy or consulate notified.
    The US Supreme Court on 24 March 2008, dismissed an appeal in Medellin v. Dretke ( a Texas death penalty case) based on a violation of Art. 36.
    I doubt that any assistance that the Consulate might have given would have one bit difference in the outcome of the criminal case. The Convention offers no ambiguity in it's requirement to inform the detainee of their right to contact their Consul. The perception outside the US calls into question the Word of The United States and this is a not liberal nor conservative question. but question of our National Honor

  7. #17
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    The UN can lecture us about national honor when we stop being their biggest financial contributor or when they stop freeloading. Our relationship with them is like a marriage where one spouse works their fingers to the bone only for the other spouse to waste the money, all while doing nothing and pompously lecturing the working spouse. The sooner we leave them, the better. Texas, and other supporters of justice for that matter, don't care what the UN thinks.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  8. #18
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
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    this article here says he was denied a stay and denied DNA testing but doesnt say which court. can anyone verify this? was it the tcca?

    Man in Death Row for Murder Denied Motions

    WESLACO – A man on death row for a decades-old Rio Grande Valley murder case is set to be executed next month.

    Ruben Ramirez Cardenas was found guilty of abducting, raping, beating, strangling and killing 16-year-old Mayra Laguna.

    The teen was reported missing from her McAllen home. Her body was found in a canal near Edinburg.

    Last week, Ramirez’s defense filed two motions, one asking for further DNA testing in the case and another to postpone the execution date.

    A judge denied both Wednesday morning.

    Execution is set to go forward on Nov. 8.

    http://www.krgv.com/story/36684572/m...denied-motions

  9. #19
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Most likely a federal judge. Or perhaps a state judge, which should be a step before the TCCA. There's nothing on the CCA website about Cardenas, and the article says judge. There are multiple judges on the CCA.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  10. #20
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    State District Judge Noe Gonzalez denied the motion Wednesday.

    "Petitioner filed this motion a mere 54 days prior to his scheduled execution date after having been convicted nearly 20 years ago. Petitioner has failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that this motion was not made to unreasonably delay the execution of his sentence," according to the order.

    http://valleycentral.com/news/local/...f-edinburg-man

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