On December 12, hundreds of protesters were expected...

On December 12, hundreds of protesters were expected to march to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid to demand the release of Joaquin Martinez, a Spanish citizen on death row in Florida, who was denied his rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by that state. Martinez, 28, was sentenced to death on May 27, 1997 by a Tampa, Florida, jury for the murders of Douglas Lawson and Sharrie McCoy-Ward. On January 8, his new attorney had presented an appeal based on the fact that some witnesses had retracted their previous testimony and that the evidence had been manipulated. The Florida Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal on January 21, 1999. The hearing took place on November 2, 1999. The Supreme Court ruling is pending.