Planned execution in Texas highlights untenable system

The decision by the state of Texas to execute a Mexican citizen on Tuedsay despite objections by Mexico and the World Court unbares the moral inconsistencies that should have long ago condemned the death penalty in the United States. Allowing executions to continue on a state-by-state basis undermines the principles of justice that the U.S. legal system is base on and draws its authority from. While the death penalty has strong support in the United States and particularly in Texas, the Lone Star State has executed more than 400 prisoners since 1976, far more than any other state. The death penalty is barred in most other democratic countries. The planned execution of Jose Medellin, who was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in 1993, has drawn fire around the world because Medellin was not informed of his right to get help from the Mexican consulate after he was arrested, according to the Reuters international news service. Of course, the crime itself, in which two teens were assaulted and strangled to death in a gang-related attack, also drew wide outrage for its senselessness and brutality. But the crime itself is besides the point. Surely, lifelong imprisonment is the mother of all sentences. Only people who don't take pleasure from everyday life would think it isn't. Last month, the World Court last month ordered the U.S. government to "take all measures necessary" to halt the execution Medellin and four other Mexicans until it reviews the rights dispute. President Bush ordered Texas to conduct such a review, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that out. There are 51 Mexicans awaiting execution in the United States.