WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday ruled premature the appeal of a death sentence handed down to a Mexican national in Texas.
The sentence received international attention because it was imposed before Mexican officials were notified of his situation.
In a 5-4 decision, the court said Jose Ernesto Medellin must exhaust all his appeals before the justices will take up the case.
Medellin was 18 when he participated in a gang rape and the murders of two teenage girls in Houston in 1993. He is one of 51 Mexicans facing capital punishment in nine states despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice that their rights had been violated under the Vienna Convention, the New York Times reported.
The Vienna Convention requires governments to notify each other "without delay" when a foreign citizen is detained.
