Thread: Medellin executed for rape, murder of Houston teens

Medellin executed for rape, murder of Houston teens
By ALLAN TURNER and ROSANNA RUIZ Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 5, 2008, 10:06PM
1437Comments 210Recommend

Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Jose Medellin's case created international controversy when the United Nations' world court determined Texas had violated the killer's rights under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

HUNTSVILLE -- The state of Texas defied an international court tonight and executed Jose Medellin for raping and murdering two teenage girls 15 years ago.

About a half-hour earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected a last-minute appeal to stay the execution, originally scheduled for 6 p.m.

Medellin was pronounced dead at 9:57 p.m., nine minutes after the lethal dose was administered.

As the court deliberated earlier, opposing groups of protesters gathered outside the death house. When the prison clock chimed six, a group of U.S. Border Watch members and others broke into cheers, thinking the execution had occurred.

Medellin is one of gang members condemned for the June 1993 gang rape and murder of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, in T.C. Jester Park on Houston's northwest side.

The girls were raped and strangled with a belt and shoelace after they stumbled into a drunken gang initiation rite while cutting through the park to get home before their curfew.

Elaine Jackson of Houston, who identified herself as a friend of the Pena family, was among those supporting the execution.

"The girls didn't get a second chance, why should he?" she demanded. "Why should he keep on breathing?"

On the other side of the street, Nancy Bailey was among those opposing the execution. Putting Medellin to death, she said, would flout the nation's treaty commitments and would endanger Americans arrested abroad.

Medellin, who granted few interviews while on death row, told a Mexican news reporter that he had 15 years in prison to compose his emotions. On Monday and Tuesday, he visited with his parents, whom he had not seen since 2001.

Prison spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said the parents were barred from the prison after they were overheard plotting an escape for Medellin. Also Tuesday, Medellin spoke by telephone to his younger brother, Venacio, who is serving a 40-year sentence in connection with the crime.

Jose Medellin is in a holding cell near execution chamber.

Six gang members were convicted of the killings. Derrick O'Brien was executed in July 2006. Gang leader Peter Cantu remains on death row. Two others, who were 17 at the time of the crime, had their death sentences commuted to life in prison. The younger Medellin, who was a juvenile, was sentenced to a 40-year prison term.

Ertman and Pena were raped and strangled after they stumbled into a drunken gang initiation rite while cutting through the park in order to get home before a curfew.

For days after the murders, police and the girls' parents frantically searched for the missing teens. Four days after the crime, a tip from a gang member's brother led authorities to the bodies, then to the suspects.

Within three hours of his arrest, Medellin admitted his role in the gruesome murders, appalling authorities with his boastful, callous description of the night's events.

Medellin's case created international controversy when the United Nations' world court determined Texas had violated the killer's rights under the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by denying him access to the Mexican consulate.

In 2004, the world court ordered a hearing be held to determine if the treaty violation damaged the killer's defense. In July, it ordered that a stay be granted.

President Bush and other federal officials urged Texas to grant the hearing, but Texas officials adamantly refused.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

allan.turner@chron.com

rosanna.ruiz@chron.com


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5924476.html

THANK YOU TEXAS!!!!

Executions? Si se Puede!

Thank you, Texas, for saving a little bit of our sovereignty and standing up for Americans.

Gee, I'm out of the loop. They used to wait until midnight.

I don't care where a person is from. You kill someone in Texas, you could face the death penalty.

Dixie

May God have mercy on your pathetic soul... but I don't think it's going to happen... there is a special place in HELL for pathetic child rapist's and Murderers

Now deport his evil remains back to Mexico!

Originally Posted by Bulldogger

Now deport his evil remains back to Mexico!

Yep. His ashes aren't fit for American soil.

Originally Posted by Bulldogger

Now deport his evil remains back to Mexico!

Exactly BD! This filth is not fit to be burried on US soil...

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Originally Posted by Bulldogger

Now deport his evil remains back to Mexico!

Exactly BD! This filth is not fit to be burried on US soil...

his soul is already with the devil because God would not let him in for his actions.... RIP with the devil you sick bastard