Arizona executed two German citizens, Karl and Walter...

Arizona executed two German citizens, Karl and Walter LaGrand, Karl on February 24 and Walter on March 3, for killing a bank manager in Arizona in 1982. Walter was executed by the gas chamber at the State Prison in Florence, where there are 4 of the 5 German nationals on death rows in U.S. prisons. Karl LaGrand was the first German citizen executed in the United States since World War II, when several prisoners of war were hanged. Both brothers chose the gas chamber instead of lethal injection in hopes of winning a stay on the grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment. However, Karl LaGrand was allowed to switch to lethal injection at the last moment. Walter LaGrand refused the State's offer to switch to lethal injection, saying he would stick with the gas chamber regardless of the outcome. Gov. Jane Hull rejected appeals from German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to stay the execution. Germany challenged the executions in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. The ICJ ruled that the executions should be stayed, but to no avail. Germany's challenge to the U.S. in the ICJ continues. The issue of whether the U.S. has violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by not informing foreign nationals of their rights to confer with their consulate will be decided by the ICJ in the future.