Mexican Standoff

According to Holy Scripture, God blessed Texas with his own hands (Maybe. I don’t know I’m not a creation scientist).  I mentioned in an earlier piece how I have come to enjoy living in this state and how nice the people are here but, occasionally some jackass will ruin the moment.  This time it is not some late to the party state representative but the Governor of Texas himself, Rick Perry.   I am not going to talk about the “questionable” things he has done before.  Like his failed Presidential run or his racist ranch decorations.  This is a different matter all together and I encourage you to finish or this will not make sense and make me look like a fool (I know it is not hard to make me look oafish but shut it).  Here it is: Rick Perry allowed the state of Texas to execute a cop killer. 

In 1994, officer Guy Gaddis arrested Edgar Tamayo Arias for theft outside of a Houston nightclub.  While in custody (I.E. handcuffed in the back of a squad car), Edgar pulled a firearm he had concealed in his pants and shot officer Gaddis three times in the neck and head.  What happened to officer Guy Gaddis is a senseless tragedy and cannot be forgiven.  Shooting someone in the back is a cowardly act and I wish nothing but the worst of times in every circle of hell for Edgar Arias, which he is probably getting a feel for after his execution was enacted on February 19^th.  Let me be even more blunt, I hold no sympathy for this human piece of garbage and I do not feel bad he is no longer with us.  Which begs the question, why am I upset the state of Texas put him to death?  Interesting question and an even more interesting answer waits.

Edgar Tamayo Arias was a Mexican national.  He could barely speak English at the time of his arrest and did not understand the rights afforded someone who has committed a crime on American soil.  The Mexican Consulate did not learn of the situation until a week before his trial.  Keep in mind, he was charged and held in custody for months before his trial date.  One week is not nearly long enough to prepare for a capital murder case, especially if you are not a citizen or speak the language of the country you are being tried in.  Still do not sympathize with Edgar? Good.  We are fresh out of sympathy and this is not the point.  Now, what could the Mexican consulate have revealed at trial were they given the proper time?  It would have been revealed Edgar Arias had an IQ of 67 and possibly other mental illnesses.   Here is the kicker; this does not excuse what happened but it does matter.  Why?

If this information was introduced at trial and verified on the United States side, the worst that would have happened was Edgar Arias would still have been found guilty and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.  That is it. Biff bam boom.  If this still does not sound like justice then maybe this will help.  There is plenty ofresearch on the subject of the mentally ill in prisons and it is not encouraging.   There is no standard for the screening of mental illness upon induction into most prisons so prison personnel have no idea why an inmate will not cooperate or follow the rules except that he is a problem inmate.  This can lead to the revoking of privileges or being thrown into solitary confinement.  Many inmates who spend copious amounts of time in solitary confinement are believed to suffer from one or more mental illnesses.  Isolation in a concrete slab with nothing but an itchy blanket is not pleasant and there is reason to believe this drives inmates (normal ones) insane.

Again, why does all of this matter?  It matters because the state of Texas violated the only rule of international law no one ever violates; if someone is arrested and charged with a crime in a foreign country you contact the country which they are a citizen of.  You allow them a proper defense and nothing more is required.  When all is said and done, Edgar Arias probably, again probably, would have received life in prison without the possibility of parole and spent the rest of his life being shuttled back and forth from general population to solitary confinement.  Growing more isolated and confused everyday with no allies and no privileges because corrections officers don’t do cop killers favors.  Instead, he was housed in a special cell for sixteen years with privileges, guards taking good care of him, and no chance of running into other inmates.  

American citizens should be worried about this because it affects them as well.  Who among us has not been down to Mexico and made a few bad decisions?  Lord knows I have and now there is retribution to be had for annoying Americans who get arrested in Mexico on real or fake charges.  This is not just me blustering:

Mexican authorities have a duty to the millions of Mexicans who live in the U.S. to turn on the political and diplomatic pressure. 

Texas has executed a Mexican citizen and Americans may suffer as a result. Americans can now be executed without receiving access to their consulates and the U.S. lacks the moral standing to complain.

Those were editorials from two of the highest selling newspapers in Mexico, El Universal and La Jornada.

The United States of America is a part of the world community or not.  We either abide by international law like the rest of the world or we do not.  We cannot have it both ways and we are quickly losing our moral standing in this world and the ability to be what John Winthrop hoped our fledgling nation would be, “a city upon a hill, watched by the world”.  I do not know what justice really encompasses and I do not know what would have been just in this situation.  What I do know is Edgar Arias deserved to die in anonymity and we as a nation deserve better.