Aguilar was convicted by a Texas court of murdering two people, Leonardo Chavez and Annette Chavez, on 10 June1995 with a handgun and sentenced to death on 5 July1996. He did not know his victims. The couple's son said he witnessed the murders and testified against Aguilar at trial. He filed numerous appeals and requests for stays of execution, all of which were denied. He was executed on 24 May2006 at 6:32 p.m. CST by lethal injection, despite his continued claims of innocence and protests by the government of Mexico that he was denied his right under the Geneva Conventions to a visit by a Mexican consular official.
The ICJ found that the United States "has breached its obligations to Mr. Avena and 50 other Mexican nationals and to Mexico under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations." As a result of the court's ruling, Texas officials now provide official notification to the Mexican government if a Mexican national is arrested and incarcerated in a Texas jail, and allow consular officials to visit Mexican nationals in prison.
