-  September 10 

Oklahoma Court Stays Execution of Mexican Murderer

By Ben Fenwick

OKLAHOMA CITY  - A Mexican man whose Oklahoma death sentence has been criticized by the Mexican government won an indefinite stay of execution on Monday from the state's highest court, citing a ``serious matter'' of international law.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals acted on an appeal from defense lawyers seeking a new trial for Gerardo Valdez based on an international treaty and new evidence the lawyers say shows Valdez was mentally impaired at the time of a 1989 murder.

 The appeals court issued an order extending a 30-day stay granted last month by Gov. Frank Keating, who put off Valdez's scheduled Aug. 30 execution for killing a man over a sexual advance.

 ``This court has before it a unique and serious matter involving novel legal issues and international law,'' the order read. ``This court ... orders the execution date of the petitioner hereby stayed until further order of this court.''

 Valdez, 41, was sentenced to die by injection for killing Juan Barron after Barron made sexual advances. Prosecutors said Valdez tried to persuade Barron that Christianity condemned homosexuality, then shot him twice in the head, cut his throat and burned the body in a barbecue pit.

 Valdez attorney Bob Nance called the stay a welcome opportunity to present evidence for a new trial.

 ``It's a first step,'' Nance said. ``It's not a decision on the merits (of the appeal). It is an opportunity which we are pleased about.''

 Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) urged Keating in June to commute Valdez's sentence to life imprisonment. Keating declined to commute the sentence but said he issued the temporary stay ``out of courtesy'' to the Mexican government.

 Fox argued that Valdez's rights were violated at the time of his arrest when he was not told he could contact the Mexican consulate. Mexico has no death penalty and opposes its use in the United States.

 Oklahoma justice officials have acknowledged that Valdez was not told of his rights under the so-called Vienna Convention on Consular Rights, which protects people arrested in foreign countries, including U.S. citizens abroad.

 The defense team's appeal for a new trial, filed last month, also cited a change in testimony from a psychiatrist who appeared in Valdez's original trial.

 In his revised testimony, Dr. Cecil stated that new information about a head injury Valdez suffered as a child indicated Valdez was legally insane when he murdered Barron.

 The information on Valdez's past injury was provided this year by Mexican authorities, who were not able to help the defense in the original trial because the consulate was not contacted, the defense lawyers argued.