HOUSTON (AP) - A Mexican national on Texas death row for a gruesome slaying of a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio 15 years ago has lost a federal appeal.
Humberto Leal, now 36, argued he should have been allowed to pursue an appeal after President George W. Bush agreed with an international court ruling that Leal and 50 other Mexican-born inmates should be entitled to new hearings in U.S. courts to determine if their consular rights were violated at the time of their arrests.
The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently overruled Bush and the impact of the International Court of Justice decision.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision late Monday, says that ruling shut the door to Leal's appeal.
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