Texas once again finds itself in the national spotlight over its death chamber. Mexican national Humberto Leal Jr. was executed Thursday for the 1994 rape and murder of a San Antonio teenager. The Obama administration and international groups said the execution was done in violation of U.N.'s Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. That treaty guarantees consular representation to foreign nationals upon their arrest, which didn't happen in the case of Leal, who was subsequently sentenced to death. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected the argument by a 4-1 vote. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to issue a stay in the case, and prison officials went ahead with the scheduled execution.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker has found a new weapon in her re-election effort: a letter from an anti-gay activist attacking her for her alleged homosexual agenda. Parker wrote her own solicitation letter and attached a copy of David Wilson's letter, claiming that he was attacking her solely because she is gay. During the 2009 mayoral campaign, Wilson tried a similar tactic, sending out thousands of fliers objecting to Parker's sexual orientation.