Summary:

Charles Marino (20) and his brother-in-law, Kenneth Fleming (15) met Mitchell in a Houston neighborhood park and Mitchell had offered to sell the pair some marijuana.

Instead, Mitchell pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and forced them to drive to a vacant house. He robbed them of cash and car keys, then shot them both. Fleming survived with an injury to his hip. An eyewitness identified Mitchell leaving the vacant house.

Mitchell was later arrested in possession of Marino's car and told police "I shot the two white boys." Mitchell gave a written confession admitting the shootings, but claimed they were accidental.

Thursday, October 18, 2001

MEDIA ADVISORY - Gerald Lee Mitchell to be Executed.

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General John Cornyn offers the following information on Gerald Lee Mitchell, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Monday, October 22, 2001.

On April 11, 1986, Mitchell was sentenced for the capital murder of Charles Angelo Marino, which occurred in Houston, Texas, on June 4, 1985.

A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

On June 4, 1985, Gerald Lee Mitchell abducted and shot Charles Angelo Marino and his 15-year-old brother-in-law, Kenneth Fleming, killing Marino.

Marino and Fleming drove to Lincoln City Park in Houston to purchase marijuana. Mitchell and another man approached Marino's car, a Trans-AM, and offered to sell them marijuana. Mitchell and the other man got into Marino's car and directed him to drive to a house.

Mitchell left the car to get a shotgun, which he hid in his warmup pants. When Mitchell returned, the men drove to a dead-end street where Mitchell pulled out the shotgun, demanded the car keys, and tried to force Marino and Fleming into the trunk.

When they refused, Mitchell made them walk to a vacant house. After getting the car keys from Marino, Mitchell directed the men into the vacant house, taking Marino's wallet as they walked. Mitchell pumped the shotgun, stating, "You don't believe I'll shoot you, man?" He then kicked in the door and all went inside.

Once inside the vacant building, the second man, who had not been an active participant in the abduction, told Mitchell to take Marino's and Fleming's clothing and leave them there.

Mitchell whispered to him to get some rope, at which point the second man left and did not return. Mitchell forced Marino and Fleming to sit on the floor and said, "Raise your hands white boy, you don't want to die with your hands down."

Mitchell then shot Marino in the chest. Fleming rolled into a ball and Mitchell then shot him. Fleming heard the gun pump before being shot, and Mitchell stating, "You in the white shirt, I don't think you're dead, white boy," referring to Marino. Marino died from a shotgun wound to the chest. Fleming, who was wounded in the chest, hip and arm, survived by feigning death.

Donald Newsome was walking in the vicinity of the vacant house, heard shots, and saw Mitchell come out of the back of the house with a shotgun over his shoulder.

When Mitchell saw Newsome, he was laughing and said, "You don't have to be scared of me, I'm just shooting at some birds." Mitchell then put the gun in the backseat of a "tan or goldish Trans-Am" and drove off.

Mitchell was later arrested in Corpus Christi in possession of Marino's car. Mitchell was transported back to Houston, where he told Sergeant Parish of the Houston Police Department something like, "I want to get if off my chest, I shot the two white boys." Mitchell gave a written confession admitting the shootings, but claiming they were accidental.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Mitchell is confined pursuant to a judgment and sentence of the 338th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, Cause No. 426,583, styled The State of Texas vs. Gerald Lee Mitchell.

Mitchell was indicted on June 8, 1985, for the capital offense of the intentional murder of Charles Angelo Marino while in the course of committing and attempting to commit robbery of Marino on or about June 4, 1985.

The case against Mitchell was heard by a jury, which found him guilty of capital murder on April 7, 1986. Following a separate punishment hearing, the jury affirmatively answered the two special issues submitted pursuant to former Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 37.071 § 2 (West 1985).

In accordance with Texas law, the trial court on April 11, 1986, sentenced Mitchell to death.

Mitchell's conviction and sentence were automatically appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Mitchell's conviction and sentence on January 27, 1993. Mitchell v. State, No. 69,631 (Tex. Crim. App. Jan. 27, 1993) (unpublished).

Mitchell next filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, which was denied by the United States Supreme Court on October 4, 1993.

Mitchell filed an application for writ of habeas corpus under Article 11.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure in state court on September 19, 1994. Mitchell then filed an amended application on January 19, 1995, and a second amended application on March 4, 1997.

The court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law recommending that relief be denied on February 18, 1998. Ex parte Mitchell, No. 426,583-A (338th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas, Feb. 18, 1998).

The Court of Criminal Appeals denied relief based on its own review of the record and the trial court's findings and conclusions on September 16, 1998. Ex parte Mitchell, No. 37,044-01 (Tex. Crim. App. Sept. 16, 1998).

Mitchell filed a subsequent application in the trial court for writ of habeas corpus under Article 11.071 on September 23, 1998.

The Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the application failed to satisfy the pleading requirement imposed by Article 11.071 § 5, and dismissed the application as an abuse of the writ on December 16, 1998. Ex parte Mitchell, No. 37,044-02 (Tex. Crim. App. Dec. 16, 1998).

On September 14, 1999, Mitchell filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 in the District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. That petition, and a certificate of appealability, were denied on September 7, 2000.

Mitchell sought a certificate of appealability from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which was denied on March 12, 2001. Mitchell then sought a certificate of appealability for the United States Supreme Court, which was denied on April 16, 2001.

On September 12, 2001 Mitchell filed another subsequent application for writ of habeas corpus in state court. That application was denied by the Court of Criminal Appeals on October 10, 2001.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

During the punishment phase of Mitchell's trial, the State introduced evidence that Mitchell had committed another murder only a few hours before he killed Marino.

Mitchell admitted to police that he approached Hector Mungia and demanded a necklace that he was wearing. Mitchell killed Mungia with a shotgun blast when he refused to comply. Mitchell then went to a friend's house and went to sleep.

The State also introduced evidence that Mitchell committed a burglary a few days after killing Moreno and Mungia. Other punishment phase evidence included:

Txexecutions.org

Gerald Mitchell, 33, was executed by lethal injection on 22 October in Huntsville, Texas for the robbery and murder of a man who tried to buy marijuana from him.

In June 1985, Charles Marino, 20, and his brother-in-law, Kenneth Fleming, 15, went to a Houston park to buy marijuana.

They met Mitchell, then 17, who offered to sell to them. Mitchell and an unidentified accomplice got in Marino's car. Mitchell then pulled a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun on the men and forced them to drive to a vacant house.

After Mitchell took $25 and Marino's car keys, the accomplice told Mitchell to leave them there. When Mitchell asked the accomplice to get some rope, the accomplice left and did not return.

Mitchell then forced Marino and Fleming to sit on the floor. He shot Marino in the chest from a distance of ten feet. Fleming rolled into a ball and then Mitchell shot him. Marino was killed, but Fleming survived.

Donald Newsome was walking in the vicinity of the vacant house, heard shots, and saw Mitchell coming out of the back of the house with a shotgun over his shoulders. Mitchell told him he was "just shooting some birds," and drove off in Marino's 1980 Pontiac TransAm.

The same day he killed Marino, Mitchell shot and killed another man, Hector Manguia, 18, when he refused to give Mitchell a necklace he demanded.

Mitchell was arrested in Corpus Christi seven days later, driving Marino's car. He gave police a written confession where he admitted shooting Marino and Fleming, but he claimed it was an accident.

In April 1986, a jury convicted Mitchell of the capital murder of Charles Marino and sentenced him to death. All of his appeals in state and federal courts were denied. Mitchell was also convicted of attempted capital murder in the Fleming shooting and given a 60-year sentence. He was also given a 60-year sentence for the murder of Hector Manguia.

As a juvenile, Mitchell had been arrested for robbery, burglary and taking a pistol to school, and he had served time in a youth detention center. He also supposedly fathered seven children with six women.

Since the murders, Mitchell's father has been shot to death, his brother has gone to federal prison for bank robbery, and his mother has been put on probation for drug charges.

On death row, Mitchell expressed remorse about the murders and the direction he took in life. "I was young, I didn't care about living," he said. "I was full of hate, full of rage. I really can't explain why. I was attracted to the wild side, the street life where you're trying to make a name for yourself." However, he believed that at the age of 33, he was no longer the same person who murdered two men. In a letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Mitchell wrote, "I have come so very long a way since the year of that mentally disturbed and unsettled 17-year-young person. I have truly matured."

Gerald Mitchell was sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of Charles Marino. Charles and his brother-in-law met Mitchell in a Houston neighborhood park and Mitchell had offered to sell the pair some marijuana, but instead pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and forced them to drive to a vacant house.

Man Who Killed White Teen Executed

By Michael Graczyk

Monday October 22, 2001

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A man who spent nearly half of his life on death row was executed by injection Monday night for a murder he committed at the age of 17. Before he was put to death, Gerald Mitchell apologized to the mother of his victim.

"I am sorry for the pain. I am sorry for the life I took from you. I ask God for forgiveness and I ask you for the same,'' the 33-year-old convicted killer said, looking at Diane Marino, whose son Charles was killed by Mitchell.

He then turned to his family and friends, advising them to be strong. His sister, Marsha, sobbed and slid to her knees on the floor of the witness area, By the time he was arrested for shooting three people in 1985, killing two of them, Mitchell had a history of robbery and theft and had been expelled from an alternative school.

Mitchell's attorneys, some mental health groups and death penalty opponents had contended his age at the time of the crime should have kept him from the Texas death chamber. "Execution should not be the consequence of juvenile crime, no matter how horrendous,'' said Michael Faenza, president and chief executive officer of the Virginia-based National Mental Health Association.

Mitchell's lawyers had asked the Supreme Court to block his execution, arguing that the penalty would violate international law. The high court on Monday turned down the request to delay the execution.

"It is impossible to ignore this widespread recognition by applicable international bodies and officials,'' his lawyers wrote in their petition to the high court. Congress, however, never has ratified provisions in treaties that would bar capital punishment for those convicted of crimes when they were less than 18.

But in asking for a review of the case by the high court, Mitchell's lawyers contended customary international law is law in the United States and that a "clear international consensus'' has developed against execution of people under the age of 18 at the time of their offense.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a defendant's rights were not violated when the death sentence was imposed on a murder convict who was at least 16 at the time of the offense. And Texas law allows the death sentence to be imposed on those convicted of capital murder at age 17.

Mitchell was condemned for killing Marino, 20, in June 1985. Marino was fatally shot after he and his brother-in-law, Kenneth Fleming, tried to buy $1 worth of marijuana from Mitchell, court records show. That same day, Mitchell shot and killed Hector Munguia, 18, while trying to rob him. Mitchell had received two 60-year sentences for the Munguia and Fleming shootings.

Gerald Mitchell (Juvenile) - Scheduled Execution Date and Time: 10/22/01 7:00 pm EST.

“You can’t teach borderline intellectual functioning...but you can treat drug abuse,” testified Dr. Priscilla Ray during the sentencing phase of Gerald Mitchell’s trial. It was her conclusion that Gerald’s heavy drug use combined with a below average reasoning capacity greatly influenced his judgement and self-control.

Also considered was the coincidence of Gerald’s past criminal activity and drug use: theft and cocaine at age fourteen, possession of a weapon and amp- a marijuana cigarette lined with PCP- at age fifteen. By his own admission, Gerald felt the need to prove himself on the street and keep up a tough exterior. Inevitably, this led to his experimentation and abuse of drugs.

More circumstances of Gerald’s life were brought to light during trial by his legal counsel. First and foremost, Gerald was a juvenile offender- only 17 years old when he robbed and murdered Charles Marino.

Viola Mitchell, Gerald’s mother, testified at trial that she believed his drug use began at the same time she was battling cancer and her husband was unemployed, both of which contributed to the family’s poverty. School life wasn’t much help either: school counselors testified to Gerald’s inability to function in a normal school environment.

He became belligerent and argumentative- erratic mood changes that were attributed to his emerging drug abuse.

The picture that develops out of this scenario is all too familiar with juvenile offenders: neglect, drug use, and violence. Gerald was caught up in a cycle that takes over the lives of too many children who grow up in poverty.

In spite of declining support at home and a broad international consensus against it, Texas continues to execute juvenile offenders.

The Houston chronicle has reported that only a third of Texans support these executions, and banning it has become a norm of international law, much like genocide or slavery, whereby all nations are required to obey. And while Texas does require that the execution of juveniles be imposed only on those deemed continuing threats to society,

Gerald Mitchell does not fit this role. It had been proven during the sentencing phase of his trial, that without the stimulation of illegal drugs, Gerald was a peaceful and nonviolent member of society.

Nevertheless, the jury was not allowed to use these considerations during the sentencing phase. On appeals, Gerald’s defense attorneys’ have continued to push for recognition of his juvenile offender status and his impaired reasoning ability.

These factors, they contend, make Gerald less an unrepentant killer than a young man caught up in the violence and hopelessness of drug abuse and poverty.

InternationalJusticeProject.org

Mitchell was executed by lethal injection on October 22, 2001.

Date of offense: June 4, 1985
DOB: 12/27/67
17 at time of offense
Race: Black
Race of victim: White

In June 1985, 20-year-old Charles Marino and his 16-year-old brother-in-law went to meet Gerald Lee Mitchell in a Houston park to buy drugs. Mitchell offered to sell them marijuana, but then pulled a 12-gauge sawn-off shotgun on the pair and forced them to drive to a vacant house. There, Mitchell took the car keys, forced the pair to sit on the ground and shot them from ten feet. Mitchell then left them for dead, taking the car and $25. Fleming survived the gunshot wound to his hip. Mitchell received the death penalty for the capital murder of Marino, and 60 years for the attempted murder of Fleming. Marino had just finished his basic training in the Navy. In a separate trial, Mitchell received another sixty years for the shooting death of Hector Manguia. Mitchell shot Manguia the same day as the other killings when Manguia refused to give Mitchell a necklace that Mitchell demanded.

Mitchell was caught one week after the killings driving Marino's car. Mitchell was tried by an all white jury.

The attorney for Mitchell argues that at the time of the murder Mitchell had an IQ of 75 and has been diagnosed as functioning on the borderline level of retardation. Also, it is argued that Mitchell may be suffering from organic brain disorder and experiences temporal lobe seizures. He has a severe history of drug use, which began when he was fourteen years of age.

In 1992, during a prison fight, two other Texas death row inmates stabbed Mitchell. He was treated and recovered.

Mitchell is currently 33, and has been on death row for 15 years.

*****

Case Summary

Juvenile Offender Gerald Lee Mitchell Facing Execution in Texas on October 22, 2001.

Gerald Lee Mitchell -- a 17 year old with an IQ of just 75 at the time of his offense -- is now scheduled for execution on October 22, in Texas. On June 4,1985, he murdered Hector Mungia and Charlie Marino. Less than a year later, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder of Mr. Mungia and sentenced to death for the murder of Mr. Marino. Because he was under 18 years of age at the time of his crime, Gerald's execution would be contrary to American standards of justice, fairness, and decency as well as international law. This is a call for his sentence to be commuted to life in prison. In appealing for clemency on behalf of Gerald Lee Mitchell, we do not, in any way, seek either to excuse the crime or to minimize the pain and suffering it caused the family and friends of the victims.

*****

I.

Gerald Has Expressed His Remorse and Regret for Committing Murder and Has Worked Steadily to Improve Himself.

In the 15 years Gerald has been on death row, he has matured significantly and is not the same person who committed these crimes. In his words, he has "come so very long a way since the year of that mentally disturbed and unsettled 17 year young person (sic)." He has educated himself, become deeply religious and has endeavored to live a better life, even on death row. In a letter to the mother of Charles Marino, Gerald expressed his deep remorse and asked for her forgiveness. He acknowledged that at the time of his crimes he was a young person with a "very disturbed personality, very uncaring, unreasoning and unthinking." He described the fear and pain he experienced on death row but acknowledged that "it is nothing compared to what you have to go through every single day.. I understand that there is nothing that I can ever do that will make up for the precious treasures that I have taken from yo u..."

II.

Gerald Suffered from Severe Drug Abuse, Possible Neurological Damage, Substantial Family Distress and "Borderline" Intelligence at the Time He Committed His Crimes.

Gerald's serious behavior problems began in 1982 when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. Thereafter, Gerald's mother was unable to work and Gerald became extremely fearful that she would soon die. The family situation was further aggravated by his father's loss of work the next year. The Mitchell family fell into poverty and even greater emotional turmoil while having to deal with the mother's terminal illness. This prolonged family crisis deeply affected an already limited Gerald who was in the midst of a difficult adolescence. With his world crumbling, his grades at school dropped and he began to abuse drugs. Gerald became increasingly angry, alienated and destructive. There were few, if any, support systems in place for either Gerald or his family.

Prior to his trial, Gerald's IQ was measured at just 75, placing him in the borderline range of intellectual functioning. According to the American Association of Mental Retardation, one of the criteria which distinguishes a person as having mental retardation is an IQ below 75. An evaluating psychiatrist concluded that Gerald's low intelligence would have significantly impaired his ability to think, process information and exercise sound judgment. Gerald's limited thinking, judgment and impulse control would have been further and dramatically impaired as a result of his serious drug abuse. It was reported that he regularly smoked a substance containing marijuana, embalming fluid and angel dust. Moreover, while the psychiatrist suspected that Gerald may have suffered from temporal lobe seizures -- a serious neurological condition that can cause confusion, erratic and even violent behavior -- no follow up examination was ever conducted.

III.

Gerald Was Sentenced to Death Based on a Jury's Inherently Unreliable finding that He Posed a Continuing Danger to Society. Moreover, the Sentencing Jury was not Presented Any Evidence Regarding the Developmental Factors of Adolescence and Their Mitigating Effect on Any Determination of Future Dangerousness.

Under Texas law, one of the most critical factors that a jury must consider in imposing a sentence of death is "whether there is a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society" -- otherwise known as future dangerousness. Texas juries are permitted to consider this factor notwithstanding scientific and medical proof that "future dangerousness" is impossible to predict on an individual basis. In this case, the prosecution relied on Gerald's past crimes, testimony and alleged lack of remorse to prove that he would constitute a danger in the future. The defense failed to present any evidence or argument as to why these factors cannot be determinative of future dangerousness.

Moreover, the defense failed to present any substantive evidence or argument as to how the qualities inherent in youth itself could affect any determination of future dangerousness. The jury was presented with no information regarding the many ways in which adolescents are still developing -- mentally, emotionally and morally. The jury was presented with no information regarding how adolescents lack a mature sense of risk, are unable to think about the long term consequences of their actions and have less control over impulses and behavior. The jury was presented with no evidence as to how adolescents can continue to develop in ways that make them less dangerous, more responsible, more remorseful and more mature. It was not adequately explained to the jury that most adolescents "outgrow" impulsive, aggressive -- even dangerous -- behaviors. In short, the sentencing jury was presented with no evidence that would have allowed it to consider how Gerald's youth influenced his conduct. Therefore, any jury determination of dangerousness, even if it could be accurate, would inevitably be affected by the transient qualities of youth itself. In the fifteen years since Gerald's trial, the psychological, medical and neurological sciences have made substantial discoveries and progress in understanding the many ways in which adolescents are indeed developmentally different than adults. Neuroscience, for example, has found that the areas of the brain that inhibit violent impulses, regulate emotions and assess risk are still developing -- even as late as age 19. None of this information was presented to, or considered by, the jury that sentenced Gerald Lee Mitchell to death.

*****

Execution stay denied juvenile killer

Houston Chronicle

October 11, 2001

The Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday refused to stay the Oct. 22 execution of Gerald Lee Mitchell, who was 17 when he killed a man and stole his car during a drug deal in Houston.

Mitchell's age was a factor in his appeal. His lawyer, Stanley Schneider of Houston, will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the execution.

3 of the 9 Court of Criminal Appeals judges said they would grant the stay. They were Judges Paul Womack, Cheryl Johnson and Charles Holcomb. The court's 3-page order noted that all the issues challenging Mitchell's conviction and sentence had been raised before.

Mitchell, 33, was convicted of capital murder in the June 4, 1985, death of Charles Anthony Marino, 20. Marino, who had just completed Navy basic training, was shot with a sawed-off shotgun after he and his brother-in-law, Kenneth Fleming, tried to buy a small amount of marijuana from Mitchell. Fleming was seriously wounded.

Later that day, Mitchell shot and killed Hector Munguia, 18, while trying to steal his necklace.

Mitchell's case has not attracted nearly the attention given to Napolean Beazley, another juvenile offender whose execution was stayed last August by the Court of Criminal Appeals. Gov. Rick Perry's office received 332 letters from around the world opposing Beazley's execution.

Mitchell had a juvenile crime record for robbery, burglary and taking a pistol to school. Beazley had a clean record and came from a good family in tiny Grapeland when he and 2 friends drove to Tyler on March 17, 1995, looking to steal a luxury car.

The victim was John Luttig, the father of a federal appeals court judge in Virginia. Luttig was gunned down in his driveway as he and his wife returned home in their Mercedes.

The judge who presided over Beazley's trial and 18 state representatives have asked Perry to commute his sentence to life.

Mitchell wrote his own letter to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, according to The Associated Press. "I have come so very long a way since the year of that mentally disturbed and unsettled 17-year-young person," he wrote. "I have truly matured."

*****

Clemency, reprieve denied for killer set to die Monday

Inmate was 17 at time of slaying during drug deal in Houston

Dallas Morning Star

October 21, 2001

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday unanimously rejected requests for clemency and a reprieve for condemned killer Gerald Mitchell, who is set to die next week.

Mr. Mitchell, 33, faces lethal injection Monday for a 1985 murder in Houston. He was 17 at the time of the slaying, and his execution has once again focused attention on the execution of inmates condemned for crimes committed before they were 18.

The parole board, in a pair of 18-0 votes completed Friday, refused the clemency request filed by his attorneys, as well as a request for a 30-day reprieve.

Mr. Mitchell was condemned for a fatal shooting and robbery during a drug deal in Houston on June 4, 1985. He does not deny his involvement in the crime, 1 of 2 murders he committed that day. He also shot and wounded a 3rd man the same day.

He would be the 19th U.S. prisoner to be executed since 1976 for a murder committed when the killer was younger than 18. He would be the 10th in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state, where he is among 31 death row inmates who were 17 at the time of their crime.

Mr. Mitchell's lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the punishment, contending it would violate international law.

"We want the world to support us in our quest for what we consider justice," one of his lawyers, Stanley Schneider, said Friday.

Mr. Mitchell's attorneys argue the United States is alone in its refusal to bar execution of people convicted of capital crimes committed when they are under 18.

*****

Gerald Mitchell Executed

Man Who Killed While Teen Executed

By MICHAEL GRACZYK - Associated Press Writer

Ocober 22, 2001

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A man who spent nearly half of his life on death row was executed by injection Monday night for a murder he committed at the age of 17.

Before he was put to death, Gerald Mitchell apologized to the mother of his victim.

"I am sorry for the pain. I am sorry for the life I took from you. I ask God for forgiveness and I ask you for the same," the 33-year-old convicted killer said, looking at Diane Marino, whose son Charles was killed by Mitchell.

He then turned to his family and friends, advising them to be strong. His sister, Marsha, sobbed and slid to her knees on the floor of the witness area.

By the time he was arrested for shooting three people in 1985, killing two of them, Mitchell had a history of robbery and theft and had been expelled from an alternative school. Mitchell's attorneys, some mental health groups and death penalty opponents had contended his age at the time of the crime should have kept him from the Texas death chamber.

"Execution should not be the consequence of juvenile crime, no matter how horrendous," said Michael Faenza, president and chief executive officer of the Virginia-based National Mental Health Association.

Mitchell's lawyers had asked the Supreme Court to block his execution, arguing that the penalty would violate international law. The high court on Monday turned down the request to delay the execution.

"It is impossible to ignore this widespread recognition by applicable international bodies and officials," his lawyers wrote in their petition to the high court.

Congress, however, never has ratified provisions in treaties that would bar capital punishment for those convicted of crimes when they were less than 18.

But in asking for a review of the case by the high court, Mitchell's lawyers contended customary international law is law in the United States and that a "clear international consensus" has developed against execution of people under the age of 18 at the time of their offense.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a defendant's rights were not violated when the death sentence was imposed on a murder convict who was at least 16 at the time of the offense. And Texas law allows the death sentence to be imposed on those convicted of capital murder at age 17.

Mitchell was condemned for killing Marino, 20, in June 1985. Marino was fatally shot after he and his brother-in-law, Kenneth Fleming, tried to buy $1 worth of marijuana from Mitchell, court records show. That same day, Mitchell shot and killed Hector Munguia, 18, while trying to rob him.

Mitchell had received two 60-year sentences for the Munguia and Fleming shootings.

This was the second capital punishment case involving a teenager in recent months in Texas.

But Mitchell's case has failed to attract the global attention given in August to fellow inmate Napoleon Beazley, who was spared hours before he was to have been put to death for killing the father of a federal appeals court judge when he was 17.