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| The Walls Unit, Huntsville, where executions are carried out in Texas |
With his scheduled execution just hours away, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a clemency request from a Mexican national convicted of gunning down a Houston police officer in 1994.
Parole officials said Wednesday the seven-member board refused a request for clemency or a reprieve request by a 6-0 vote. Board member Roman Chavez, a former Hoston policeman, did not vote.
The decision came after attorneys for Edgar Arias Tamayo on Tuesday asked U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel of Austin to delay the execution scheduled Wednesday evening, alleging the clemency process is legally flawed. No decision has been announced.
In announcing its vote, the parole board noted that federal appellate courts have upheld its authority to deny clemency.
Tamayo, 46, was convicted of capital murder in the shooting death of Houston officer Guy Gaddis, 24. Authorities at the time said Gaddis had arrested Tamayo and another suspected for a robbery at a bar, and the officer was shot three times in his car as he was transporting Tamayo to jail.
In recent months, the case has drawn international attention, as the Mexican government has protested the execution claiming that evidence in the case was tainted because Tamayo was never advised under an international treaty that he could get legal help from his home nation following his arrest.
Source: American-Statesman, January 22, 2014
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