Thread: Texas appeals court rejects treaty violation argument

Texas appeals court rejects treaty violation argument link:

http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5688578

I'll show the story here:

Texas appeals court rejects treaty violation argument

HOUSTON -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected an appeal from a death row prisoner whose case was among several dozen nationally involving condemned killers who were born in Mexico and whose punishments had been sidetracked after intervention from President Bush.


"We hold that the President has exceeded his constitutional authority by intruding into the independent powers of the judiciary," the court said in a 64-page ruling that included 283 legal footnotes.

Lawyers for condemned murderer Jose Ernesto Medellin had argued his rights were violated when a Houston court tried and sentenced him to death in 1994 for the rape-slayings of two teenage girls.

Specifically, Medellin, who was born in Mexico but who spent most of his life in Texas, contended he was denied legal help under international treaties when he was charged, tried, convicted and condemned for the 1993 slayings of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, in Houston.

At issue overall was how much weight U.S. courts should give to decisions of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which ruled the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexican-born prisoners violated the 1963 Vienna Convention.

In 1969, the Senate ratified the Vienna Convention, which requires consular access for Americans detained abroad and foreigners arrested in the United States. The Constitution states that U.S. treaties "shall be the supreme law of the land," but does not make clear who interprets them.

In February 2005, Bush unexpectedly ordered new state court hearings for all 51 prisoners, whose cases have stirred tensions with foreign countries over convictions of their citizens in violation of international law.

The Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday said the presidential order "cannot be sustained under the express or implied constitutional powers of the President relied on by MedellÃ*n and the United States or under any power granted to the President by an act of Congress cited by MedellÃ*n and the United States.

"As such, the President has violated the separation of powers doctrine by intruding into the domain of the judiciary."

The decision Wednesday means Medellin, 31, is not entitled to additional review of his international rights claim.

The Supreme Court 18 months ago, citing the presidential order, rejected Medellin's case and those of the 50 other Mexican nationals on death row in the United States and sent them to their respective state courts for review. That ruling avoided the dispute over whether international law is binding on American courts.

In 2004, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas in a ruling that federal relief for Medellin was barred because he did not file objections at his trial.

In their arguments to the Supreme Court, Medellin's attorneys said his court-appointed trial lawyer was suspended from practicing law for ethics violations during the case, and he failed to call any witnesses during the guilt phase of the trial. Lawyers for Mexico said the country would have made sure Medellin had a competent lawyer had it known about the trial in 1994.

Medellin was supported in his appeal by dozens of countries, legal groups and human rights organizations, as well as former American diplomats and the European Union. Much of the international community is opposed to capital punishment and the execution of Mexican nationals in Texas, the nation's most active death penaltly state, is a particularly touchy point.

Medellin, 18 at the time, was one of six members of a fledgling Houston street gang convicted in the slayings of Pena and Ertman, whose bodies were found four days after they failed to return from a friend's house. The pair had been tortured, raped and strangled. They were attacked as they took a shortcut along some railroad tracks and stumbled on the group drinking beer after initiating a new gang member.

One of Medellin's companions, Derrick Sean O'Brien, also 18 at the time of the slayings, was executed earlier this year.

Evidence showed the girls were gang raped for more than an hour, then were kicked and beaten before being strangled by a belt or shoelaces.

Two others, Efrain Perez and Raul Villarreal, had their death sentences commuted to life in prison when the Supreme Court last year barred executions for those who were 17 at the time of their crimes.

Peter Cantu, described by authorities as ringleader of the gang, remains on death row without an execution date. O'Brien, in a confession, said Medellin was at one end of the belt being pulled around Jennifer Ertman's neck as he yanked on the other.

The sixth person convicted was Medellin's brother, Vernancio, who was 14 at the time and received a 40-year prison term.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

This is why I just posted the link...

Originally Posted by alexz

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

This is why I just posted the link...

Ok, I see. It's ok though. This question was asked at the following link. had_enuf explains it but you'll have to scroll down some.

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... opic&t=320