Medellin v. Texas: The Effect on International Law on Domestic Criminal Law and Procedure
Defense counsel with foreign clients will not be pleased with the latest offering from the United States Supreme Court and its take on international law. José Ernesto Medellín, a Mexican national, was convicted and sentenced in a Texas state court for the capital murder of two girls. Fortunately, Mexico brought an action in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague against the United States on behalf of Medellin’s and 51 other Mexican nationals in Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mex. v. U. S.), 2004 I. C. J. 12 (Judgment of Mar. 31) (Avena). The ICJ held that, based on violations of the Vienna Convention, the nationals were entitled to review and reconsideration of their convictions and sentences in state courts in the United States, regardless of whether the defendants had waived their rights to raise challenges under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (Vienna Convention or Convention) for failure to comply with generally-applicable state rules governing challenges to criminal convictions. President George W. Bush even showed his support for the international tribunal by issuing a Memorandum to the Attorney General in which he directed that the United States discharge its international obligations by having State courts give effect to Avena. Medellin did not raise any Vienna Convention claims prior to his conviction. After the state court dismissed Medellin’s petition for writ of habeas corpus to raise his Vienna Convention claims, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case of Medellin v. Texas.
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