State Dept. Asks Texas to Review Execution

W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 8 -- The facts of the case are not in dispute. Miguel Angel Flores, then 20, abducted, raped and stabbed to death a college student in Hutchinson County, Texas, in 1989. He is scheduled to be put to death for his crime Thursday.

The case might have escaped notice outside Texas, except thatauthorities there failed to notify Mexican consular officials thatthe Mexican-born defendant had been arrested.

Such notification is required under the Vienna Convention onConsular Relations. Mexican officials did not learn of Flores’ fateuntil a year after his death sentence was handed down in 1990.

The notion that the legal process against Flores was stackedagainst him as a result of the omission has become an issue inU.S.-Mexican relations and generated critical comment from a numberof foreign governments.

State Dept. Weighs InIt also triggered a highly unusual appeal by the StateDepartment to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that itconsider a request for clemency that Flores has been seeking.

“Foreign citizens are uniquely vulnerable when confronted withanother country’s legal system,” says Mark Warren, who monitorsdeath penalty cases for Amnesty International. “Consular access isessential to ensure that foreign nationals facing prosecutionreceive fair and humane treatment under the local legal system.”

Jose Antonio Zabalgoitia, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy,says the absence of consular notification left Flores’ defense inthe hands of a court-appointed attorney who showed little interestin his case.

“If at start of case the consulate had been informed, theconsul would have assured he would have got adequaterepresentation,” Zabalgoitia says.

Warren says Flores’ lawyer presented no character witnesses anddidn’t tell the jury that Flores had no prior criminal record. Hesays Flores has served as a prison trusty on death row withoutincident.

Zabalgoitia adds that the psychological evaluation of Flores wasdone by a psychologist “who did not bother to interview him.”