HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- A Mexican national was executed Tuesday night in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his claim that he should have seen a consul after his arrest.
Jose Ernesto Medellin was put to death shortly before 10 p.m. at the state prison in Huntsville, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The execution was delayed for almost four hours while the Supreme Court considered his motion for a stay.
Medellin was contrite in his last moments.
"I'm sorry my actions caused you pain," Medellin said in his final words. "I hope this brings you the closure that you seek. Never harbor hate."
Medellin and other members of a gang called the Black and Whites were convicted of raping and killing two teenage girls in Houston in 1993. Medellin, 33, spent most of his adult life on death row.
The case became an international one when Medellin's lawyers argued that Texas violated a 1963 treaty signed by the United States that guarantees foreign nationals speedy access to a consul when they are arrested. The International Court of Justice in the Netherlands ruled in Medellin's favor.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court found that President Bush exceeded his authority when he ordered states to comply with the treaty.
