Texas executes Mexican national despite diplomatic protests
The US state of Texas executed Edgar Tamayo, who was convicted of murdering a police officer in 1994, on Wednesday despite pleas from the Mexican government
A Mexican national convicted for the 1994 slaying of a Houston police officer was executed by lethal injection in Texas on Wednesday, ending a capital murder case that put him at the centre of a diplomatic dispute.
Edgar Tamayo, 46, who was denied an 11th-hour stay of execution by the US Supreme Court, was pronounced dead at 9.32pm local time at a state prison in Huntsville, Texas, according to officials at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The Mexican government had called on Texas to halt the execution, calling it a violation of international law, and US Secretary of State John Kerry had asked Texas Governor Rick Perry to consider a stay.
Tamayo was convicted of shooting Houston police officer Guy Gaddis to death in 1994. Gaddis had arrested him on suspicion of robbery.
While handcuffed in the police car, Tamayo pulled a pistol that had gone unseen and shot Gaddis, 24, three times in the back of the head. Tamayo kicked open a window and ran away from the car but was arrested again a few blocks from the scene.
The Mexican government contends Tamayo was not informed of his right to diplomatic assistance in the case, a guarantee enshrined in an international treaty known as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.