Mexican Humberto Leal Garcia executed in Texas

Texas executed a Mexican citizen, Humberto Leal Garcia, Thursday night about an hour after the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the Obama administration.

Leal, 38, was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 16-year-old American girl, BBC reports.

The Obama administration had asked the court to delay the execution to give Congress time to consider legislation that would offer new hearings on if the rights of Mexican citizens on death row in the United States, including Leal, had been violated, the New York Times reports.

(More from GlobalPost: Mexico: new cartel on the block)

The International Court of Justice in The Hague found in 2004 that the inmates had been denied consular services and therefore their rights under the Vienna Convention were violated. The Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that Congress must compel states to comply with the Hague's ruling. 

On Thursday, the court ruled that Congress had had plenty of time to act but did not. Now, Congress would not “prohibit a state from carrying out a lawful judgment in light of unenacted legislation.”

The justices voted 5-4 to allow the sentence. Texas executed Leal by lethal injection Thursday night.

The Texas governor, Rick Perry, also rejected President Obama's appeal, declining to exercise his power to delay the execution by 30 days, the Guardian reports.

Perry is a vigorous advocate of the death penalty, it states.

Leal moved to the United States with his family when he was young. He was sentenced for the 1994 killing of Adria Sauceda.

Moments before he died, he said he was sorry for the death and shouted, "Viva Mexico! Viva Mexico!"