Human Rights Watch condemned the execution of a foreign national in Arizona last week and urged Arizona's governor to halt the execution of his brother tomorrow, March 3.
The two brothers, Karl and Walter LaGrand, were convicted of a murder that occurred during a 1982 bank robbery. Because the men were both citizens of Germany, the arresting authorities were obligated to inform them of their right to seek counsel and assistance from their consulate. Arizona law enforcement officials reportedly failed to do so.
"Consular notification is a right demanded by the United States in order to protect its citizens abroad and is stipulated in the Vienna Convention to which the United States is a party," wrote Allyson Collins, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch in a February 23 letter to Arizona's Governor, Jane Hull.
Collins also suggested that the death penalty's application in the United States is an inherently flawed process. "The death penalty is applied in an arbitrary manner, inflicted primarily on the poor, minorities, and mentally ill or retarded persons. And mistakes are made -- approximately seventy-five people have been released from death row when new evidence has surfaced, including some that had come within hours or days of their execution."
