Posted on 05/06/2008 2:42:34 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Medellin's lawyer hopes to stop it, saying client didn't get to talk to consulate
A Houston man who was convicted of capital murder 14 years ago for the gang rapes and slayings of two teenage girls received a death date Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for his and other killers' executions.
Jose Medellin, 33, is set to die by injection on Aug. 5 for the 1993 murders of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Peña, 16.
The girls were beaten, raped and killed after they happened upon a drunken midnight gang initiation rite in T.C. Jester Park in northwest Houston.
State District Judge Caprice Cosper set the date in a hearing Monday. Medellin was convicted and sentenced in 1994.
"I'm ready for this to be over," said Adolph Peña, Elizabeth's father."I know it takes a long time, but how much time do you need?"
However, Medellin's attorney, Sandra Babcock, said she expected to stop the execution, based on concerns about international justice agreements between the United States and other nations.
She said she will ask congressional leaders to put pressure on the government to adhere to the agreements, which include notifying the consulates of foreign nationals who are arrested. She said Medellin, who was born in Mexico but lived most of his life in Houston, was not given the opportunity to notify his consulate.
Mexico sued U.S.
A legal struggle over international law had kept Medellin's case on appeal to the Supreme Court. Mexico, which opposes the death penalty, sued the United States in 2003 in the International Court of Justice in The Hague on behalf of about 50 Mexican citizens, including Medellin, on death rows in the United States.
The Mexican government said U.S. officials violated the 1963 Vienna Convention when they failed to allow the citizens of another country access to its representatives after arrest. The World Court agreed and said the inmates deserved new hearings.
President Bush had said Texas should reconsider the Medellin case and others based on the Vienna Convention.
But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that a memo by Bush instructing states to comply with the international court was not sufficient to require states to act.
A few days after he wrote the memo, Bush withdrew the United States from the part of an international treaty that gives the International Court of Justice final say in international disputes.
Supreme Court ruling
The Supreme Court removed another impediment to the execution of Medellin and others when it ruled in April on a Kentucky case that lethal injection is not cruel and unusual punishment.
Kentucky uses the same lethal three-drug cocktail that is used in 35 other states, including Texas. Defense attorneys argued that it violated inmates' constitutional rights.
Executions were halted in September when the high court agreed to hear the Kentucky case.
Five other reputed gang members were convicted in connection with the Ertman and Peña slayings.
Derrick Sean O'Brien was executed in 2006. Peter Anthony Cantu is on death row for the killings, but his execution date has not been set.
Raul Villarreal and Efrain Perez were sentenced to death but had their sentences commuted to life in prison in 2005 after the U.S. Supreme Court determined that it was cruel to execute those who were juveniles.
They were months away from turning 18 when the killings occurred.
Venacio Medellin, Jose Medellin's brother who was 14 at the time of the crime, testified against the others and is serving a 40-year sentence
dale.lezon@chron.com
A Houston man, Dale? Maybe he forgot he was a Mexican too.
I’m hoping I can drive up to Huntsville and enyoy the evening on that day.
I remember hearing about the murders when they happened and this POS deserves to die.
God bless Texas for taking out the trash.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Jorge protecting illegals again.
Well dear lawyer, the victims didn’t get to talk to their families either. Life is so cruel to violent criminals. Boo hoo...
Once in a while even the Supremes get it right.
Fire up ol sparkey and get the line moving again, double time.
Some of this bilge trash has been waiting over twenty years.
If that was indeed the intended purpose the administration did everything exactly correct in order to establish this monumental decision that no International body has ANY jurisdiction inside the U.S.A. unless specifically ceded to them by a ratified treaty.
Drop him off in Mexico. A short plane ride, don’t land, no parachute.
Adios, mofo.
I wonder if the victim’s families could sue the fed gov for not enforcing the immigration laws when their loved ones are murdered by illegals? Same for Americans killed in car crashes with illegals causing the crashes.
I wonder if the victim’s families could sue the fed gov for not enforcing the immigration laws when their loved ones are murdered by illegals? Same for Americans killed in car crashes with illegals causing the crashes.
They could, but they would have to get permission to sue first.
Dear President Bush.
Vienna SAUSAGE has more value to mankind than Medellin.
Bush is a major league asshole. For those feint of heart Bush supporters, Bush used these very words to Dick Cheney when pointing out Adam Clymer in an audience.
A president can withdraw the US from "part" of a treaty?
MURDER
Murder is forbidden by the Geneva Conventions, both in cases of internal conflicts (Convention I, Art. 3, Sec. 1A), wounded combatants (Convention I, Art. 12), civilians in occupied territories (Convention IV, Art. 32), civilians in international conflicts (Protocol I, Art. 75, Sec. 2Ai) and civilians in internal conflicts (Protocol II, Art. 4, Sec. 2A).
RAPE
Parties to a conflict must respect children, provide them with any care or aid they require, and protect them from any form of indecent assault (Protocol I, Art. 77, Sec. 1).
Female civilians in an occupied territory, internees and refugees must be protected against any attack on their honor, including rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault. (Convention IV, Art. 27 and Protocol I, Art. 76, Sec. 1)
Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault is prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever, whether committed by civilians or military personnel. (Protocol I, Art. 75)
These protections also apply in cases of internal conflict. (Protocol II, Art. 4, Sec. 2e)
TORTURE
Torture is forbidden by the Geneva Conventions, both in cases of internal conflicts (Convention I, Art. 3, Sec. 1A), wounded combatants (Convention I, Art. 12), civilians in occupied territories (Convention IV, Art. 32), civilians in international conflicts (Protocol I, Art. 75, Sec. 2Ai) and civilians in internal conflicts (Protocol II, Art. 4, Sec. 2A).
http://www.genevaconventions.org/
After this PoS meets up with the Texas executioner and our law is carried out then contact the Mexican consulate so they can come and claim Mr Jose Medellins body, fair enough?!
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