Posted on 07/31/2008 6:59:34 PM PDT by instantgratification
The United States is fast approaching a showdown over its commitment to the rule of international law as Texas prepares to carry out the scheduled Aug. 5 execution of convicted killer and rapist Jose Medellin. On July 14, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ordered the US government to "take all measures necessary" to prevent the execution of Mr. Medellin and four other Mexican nationals awaiting execution dates on death row in Texas. . . Medellin admitted involvement in the gang rape and murder of two girls. The girls, ages 14 and 16, took a shortcut home through the woods, where they were spotted by members of a street gang. Medellin and other gang members chased the girls, raped them, and then killed them to prevent them from reporting the crime. . . A measure was introduced in Congress, but there has been no effort to pass the bill, or even debate it. Analysts say the issue is radioactive in an election year.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
My view is despite the Convention, he should be executed. The case turns on a technicality.
The gangbanger had a fair trial. His victims did not.
He can choose the new “lemon fresh” scented pancuronium bromide.
I say bring back hanging, just for this sad sack o’ sh*t.
It’s time we told them (World Court, UN, etc) to “go pound salt”!
Allright Texas!!! You stand strong.
On with the execution. Old Europe is wrong once again.
Let it be soon...
Republic of Texas trumps international law.
Hanging is too good for him.Tie him to a stake and let me set my dogs on him.
Gov Perry was on Mark Davis talk radio today about this. Final decision Tuesday as he has to get report from Pardons and Parole bunch. Expect TX to infuse this illegal piece of garbage despite all the sympathizers. And good riddance.
World Court opinions should have zero standing in the United States (or any allegedly sovereign country for that matter)
Execute him.
Screw the World Court.
The problem is that the US wants to ensure its citizens have consular access when it is abroad, so from that perspective, the World Court is needed. I think if this were not a big election year, Congress may have intervened.
A big problem in a lot of these cases is Mexico always demands its nationals who commit crimes not face the death penalty. It doesn’t look at whether the accused got a fair trial. And, in this case, the gangbanger was only “nominally” Mexican - a Mexican citizen raised in the U.S. Mexico should not have taken this to the World Court. Lots of Americans and Canadians languish for years in Mexican prisons if they fail to buy their way out.
Unfortunately, three of the other gangbanger rapists got life sentences. One, 14 at the time, is serving up to 40 years. The other two were sentenced to death, but were minors (barely), and the USSC overturned their sentences.
“Life” is not “life” in Texas. Eventually, those animals will all be released back on the streets.
I don’t see the World Court meddling in the affairs of third world countries who brutally kill people for petty things. But then they come down on us for executing someone who committed a crime that is beyond despicable.
They can only intervene if a foreigner is involved, and the foreigner’s country takes the case to the World Court.
In this case, the World Court said the cases should be reviewed to determine if the lack of assistance tainted the outcome. I think that really, this was a delay tactic by Medellin’s legal team. I highly doubt he would have received a different sentence in any circumstance.
I read the facts and they were really brutal.
I do believe the sentence fits the crime, and note, it has been fifteen years since the crime.
If this court does not want them to die, these perverts can live with them and their daughters.
What an idiot statement. We don't deserve any special treatment abroad. If we break their laws then we pay the price of doing so. Especially if we rape and kill teenage girls in the process. If congress intervenes on this in any year they will be swamped with phone calls, emails and every other means of communication. Kill the murdering bastards is my cry and kill them soon. F*** the world court, they have no standing in our country and in country that lets them dictate what they can do deserves the tyranny they get as a result.
I suggest a compromise. String him up, then cryogenically freeze the body and send it to the Hague. They can store it and revive him when technology permits.
Come to think of it, why not do that will all convicted killers in lieu of appeals. When all appeals are exhausted, the body could be thawed.
GRRRRRRRREAT news!
Somewhere I have a jpeg of the USS Washington, with the slogan, "90,000 tons of diplomacy; wherever, whenever."
Relying on grownups wearing striped pants to protect Americans is a losing proposition.
that is great but still to good for him. tree-chain-blowtorch....slowly until done works for me.
May God have mercy on his soul, after the State of Texas sets it free from its mortal husk.
Amen.
Burn in hell. No pitty for you montster!
Wasnt this the same guy the Bush Admin supported in preventing his execution?
There is nothing more anti-American than allowing the World Court (a favorite of Liberals and Liberal Free Trade Globalists) to involve itself in the American system.
I am tired of those people and institutions who value the rights of criminal illegal aliens over the rights of American citizen crime victims. If Mexico doesnt like the fact that their reprobates get executed in the USA...then take your damn people back.
The problem is that the US wants to ensure its citizens have consular access when it is abroad.
BS! When arrested overseas, an american citizen will get a visit from the embassy security officer (if notified about the arrest), whom will explain that there is nothing they can do. The american citizen broke the local law and is at their mercy, but they will contact his/her family to send money and food.
Put a pillow under his head and give him a comfortable, painless ride into Hell . . .
For the chilren.
It figures that the child molesters in the Hague would try to save the life of this filthy scumbag. He should be strapped into a chair and cooked to a crisp, along with his accomplices.
When this case was tried, there was no life without parole in TX. The TX legislature enacted life without parole this last session.
We don’t need arrogant European elitists telling us what to do. We have the Constitution, which is the supreme law of our land. Not The Hague.
Or Jorge Arbusto?
Or Juan "Amnesty" McCain?
(...and why isn't this labeled a hate crime by the DBM?)
(...and why aren't the feminists up in arms about this?)
NO cheers, unfortunately.
I am in Mexico watching the national coverage of this on television. Mr. Medellin says everybody commits “errors” when they are young, and since he was 18 at the time of his “error” he should be forgiven. The interviewer asked him if he had decided on what his last meal would be. He did not want to answer the question, and then when asked about what his last words would be, he said he did not think about those things.
As for access by US citizens in foreign jails, that is not what is at stake here. Mr. Medellin did have access to the Mexican consulate, eventually, and was given a fair trial. May God have more mercy on him than he had for Miss Pena and the other young (16 and 14) year old girls.
If he did it in the US/Texas then it falls under that jurisdiction.
When the illegal parents of American anchor babies live in HUD housing and eat on the taxpayers dimes, where is Mexico to protest that?
I can see a lib on the SCOTUS putting this execution off in the name of international law.
You need to attend re-education camp..... the US Constitution is only the "supreme law of our land" insofar as it has been properly re-interpreted by Justices Ginsburg, Stevens, et al. Otherwise, look to the Hague, the UN, and the EU. /big sarcasm
SCOTUS washed their hands of him in 2006. They are *not* going to go there again...
the infowarrior
“Congress may have intervened..’
On what legal basis could Congress have intervened? When the Federal Government tried to order the State of Texas to review the case the US Supreme Court ruled that the Executive Branch of the Federal Government had no jurisdiction in the matter. They ruled it was a matter for the Texas courts, legislature to handle. Additionally, the Governor does not have the authority to commute his sentance, Texas has a state board of pardons that has that authority.
I believe the US consulate does say if you commit a crime in a foreign country, you will face that jurisdiction’s laws. But they can help with access to lawyers, etc.
I think the US concern is about innocent people who get caught in situationa abroad.
As an example, there was a Canadian woman, Brenda Martin, who worked as a cook for a Canadian criminal (pyramid scammer) in Mexico. She was held in jail for 2 or 3 years before she was finally released, only after diplomatic intervention (Technically, she was convicted and sent to serve her sentence in Canada. Even the scammer, who was sentenced in the US (where most of his victims were) said she had nothing to do with his scheme, and he’d fired her before he was arrested. But, in Mexico, you’re innocent until proven guilty.
Call me old fashioned, but an “error” is using drugs, or speeding. An error is not gang raping 2 young girls (14 and 16), then strangling them.
That just proves he has no conscience.
I believe Justice Stevens stated that Texas could not be compelled to follow the World Court decision, but that they should review it (to fulfill treaty obligations).
The World Court didn’t stated Medellin could not be executed, only that his trial should be reviewed to ensure it was “fair”. I think the appeals process basically covered that.
Treaties take precedence over state rights.
Here is a legal analysis -
http://www.legalweekblogs.com/legalvillage/2008/03/medellin_case_shows_theres_no.html
how absolutely disgusting... on top of that, i am sick of society thinking of 18-30 year olds as kids... this guy was a man at the time of the murders...
Not being a lawyer I can’t be sure, but if it is a legal matter then its for the Courts to intervene, not Congress. And the Supreme Court has already struck down the attempt by the Executive Branch to intervene. So what’s left?
Because it is a treaty matter (Vienna Convention), Congress can intervene.
I’m not sure what Congress can legally do, pass a law saying that Texas cannot execute this man? Again, the US Supreme Court has already ruled on this matter and told President Bush that the Federal government cannot interfere with how Texas enforces its own laws.
If Congress enacted a statute which implemented the treaty, then it would supersede the Texas courts. That is what the SCOTUS found in its judgment on this case. The fact there currently is no such statute is why Texas did not have to adhere to the World Court ruling.
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