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American Morning

Juan Raul Garza Makes a Plea For Life

Aired June 05, 2001 - 10:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: To continue on the Timothy McVeigh angle, just about a week after his scheduled execution another federal prisoner is due to die by lethal injection. He is Juan Raul Garza, and his second date with death is what's coming up.

President Clinton intervened in his first -- his case first in December. And CNN has obtained a copy of Garza's videotaped appeal to Mr. Clinton. CNN's David Mattingly explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten years a kingpin drug smuggler, Juan Raul Garza was responsible for importing tons of marijuana into the U.S. from Mexico. Killing one man and ordering two others killed, he was sentenced to death under federal law in 1993. Now, eight years later, his execution just two weeks away, a videotape given to CNN by his attorneys shows Garza pleading for his life.

JUAN RAUL GARZA: I'm here to ask that you have mercy on me.

MATTINGLY: The nearly seven minute videotape was made last fall, intended for the eyes and ears of them President Clinton, who had already once before delayed Garza's execution so that this attorneys could request clemency. In the tape, Garza thanked the president for the reprieve, then took full responsibility for his crimes.

GARZA: I regret what I've done.

MATTINGLY: It is not known if the president or anyone in his administration actually viewed the tape. But on December 7, the president ordered a second delay, this time so that the Justice Department could investigate racial and geographical differences in how the federal death penalty is applied, an issue that is critical to Garza, who is Hispanic and was sentenced in Texas, which leads the nation in executions.

BRUCE GILCHREST, GARZA'S ATTORNEY: That increased exponentially the likelihood that federal prosecutors would select him for capital punishment.

MATTINGLY: Texas and Virginia account for half of the 20 inmates on federal death row. Seventeen of the 20 are minorities. REP. BOB BARR (R), GEORGIA: In the vast majority of cases involving blacks and other minorities, the request to prosecute a death penalty case are turned down. So very few of them even reach the level of being prosecutable.

MATTINGLY: It is unclear if the Justice Department review of the federal death penalty as ordered by President Clinton is complete. There has been no public comment by the Bush administration. In the meantime, Garza shares death row in Terra Haute, Indiana with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. If McVeigh is successful in winning a new delay this week, Garza could become the first federal prisoner executed since 1963.

David Mattingly, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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