Spic loving Bush trying to stop execution of a rapist/murdering spic

[Crusader]

My hatred for Bush has just reached a new level.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3708455&page=1


Jose Ernesto Medellin

This photo released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Jose Ernesto Medellin in Huntsville, Texas, who was sentenced in 1994 to die for the rapes and killings of two teenage girls in Houston.


By ARIANE de VOGUE
Oct. 9, 2007

The state with the unofficial motto "Don't Mess with Texas" is taking on the U.S. government at the Supreme Court in a case regarding the rights of a Mexican national currently on death row.

In 1994, Jose Medellin was convicted and sentenced to death in Texas for the rape and murder of two teenage girls, Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena.

After his conviction, a controversy erupted when an International Court found that the United States had violated the rights of Medellin and 50 other Mexican nationals sentenced to death here by failing to notify the nationals of their rights to inform the Mexican consulate of their detention.

Article 36 of the Vienna Convention requires authorities to notify "without delay" a detained foreign national of his right to request assistance from the consul of his own state. At the time of Medellin's arrest, the United States was a signatory to the treaty.

Medellin, a Mexican citizen who had lived in the United States most of his life, claims that had he known that he could inform Mexican consular officers of his detention they could have potentially assisted him by providing funding for experts or investigators or ensuring that he was represented by a competent defense counsel.

Taking the side of Medellin, President Bush issued a statement admitting that the United States had breached an article of the Vienna Convention that requires such consular notification.

The president issued a written determination that the state courts had to abide by the treaty and review and reconsider the sentences and convictions of the death row inmates. Bush claimed that his determination to have the states reconsider the cases came from his "authorized power to effectuate" treaty obligations.

But Texas found the president's actions to be intrusive on the sovereignty of the states. Greg Abbott, attorney general of Texas, argues that Texas cannot be forced to reopen the cases because "the presidential memorandum transgresses the authority of Congress, of the judiciary and of the states."

Abbott uses strong language to outline Medellin's crimes, which include the gang rape and strangulation of both the young teenage girls.

"Medellin was tried and convicted of murder during the course of a sexual assault," Abbott wrote. "A jury unanimously recommended a death sentence."

Texas asks the high court to consider the presidential memorandum to be a "request," not a "command."

Government lawyers write in legal papers supporting Medellin that the president "has recognized authority to resolve disputes with foreign nations over individual claims, and to establish binding rules of decision that preempt contrary state law."

The government lawyers say that the "compelling national interests served by the president's determination outweigh the relatively modest intrusion on state interests."

The case will be decided by early next summer.

[Cali4yaokie]

Texas: Mexican-born murderer should be executed


The planned execution this week of a man convicted in one of Houston's most brutal murder cases in a generation has become among the most contentious in the state that has the nation's busiest capital punishment system.

International attention has been focused on the execution of convicted killer Jose Medellin scheduled for Tuesday. The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, said the Mexican-born Medellin and some 50 other Mexicans on death row around the nation should have new hearings in U.S. courts to determine whether a 1963 treaty was violated during their arrests.

Medellin, now 33, is the first among the 50 who is set to die.


His attorneys contend Medellin was denied the protections of the Vienna Convention, which calls for people arrested to have access to their home country's consular officials. He has been in the United States since the age of 3.He should have the rights of the American People and this is what is deserved of "it" for what he did.

"The United States' word should not be so carelessly broken, nor its standing in the international community so needlessly compromised," Medellin's attorneys said, seeking a reprieve in a filing late last week with the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court had not issued any ruling as of Sunday.

President has asked states to review the cases. Texas has refused to budge.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico warned of possible protests there Tuesday.

Medellin's lawyers went to the Supreme Court after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, refused to stop
the lethal injection. The justices ruled in March that neither the President nor the international court can force Texas' hand.

"There is no dispute that if Texas executes Mr. Medellin in these circumstances, Texas would cause the United States irreparably to breach treaty commitments made on behalf of the United States as a whole and thereby compromise U.S. interests that both this Court and the President have described as compelling," Medellin's attorneys said in their filing.

Texas officials acknowledge that Medellin was not told he could ask for help from Mexican diplomats but argued he forfeited the right because he never raised the issue until four years after his conviction. In any case, the diplomats' intercession wouldn't have made any difference in the outcome of the case, they said.

Medellin speaks, reads and writes English and gave a written confession.

"Don't feel sorry for me," he said on an anti-death penalty Web site where i
nmates seek pen pals. "I'm where I'm at because I made an adolescent choice."

Medellin, on death row for almost 14 years, was one of six teenagers arrested and charged with the gang rape and murders of Elizabeth Pena, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14. The two Houston girls, returning from a friend's house, took a shortcut home and stumbled on a group of teenagers drinking beer after initiating a new gang member.

Evidence showed the girls were gang raped for more than an hour, then were kicked, beaten and strangled. Their bodies were found four days later.

A tip from the brother of one of the gang members led police to Medellin and the others.

One of the gang members, Derrick O'Brien, was executed last year. The death sentences of two others, Efrain Perez and Raul Villarreal, were commuted to life in prison when the Supreme Court barred executions for those who were 17 at the time of their crimes.

A fourth, Peter
Cantu, described by authorities as the ringleader, is on death row but no execution date has been set.

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

In the legal frenzy to save Medellin, the fact that two girls were killed is being lost, said Randy Ertman, father of one of the victims.

"This is not about vengeance. This is not about a deterrent or about closure. It's about the punishment," Ertman said. "Everybody wants me to say closure or vengeance. I'm never going to have closure. It's just a miracle word that's going to make us feel good, but it ain't going to happen."

Mexico, which has no death penalty, initially sued the United States in the World Court in 2003. Mexico and other opponents of capital punishment have sought to use the court to fight for foreigners facing execution in the U.S.

"The law is clear: Texas is bound not by the Worl
d Court, but by the U.S. Supreme Court, which reviewed this matter and determined that this convicted murderer's execution shall proceed," said Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for the Texas Attorney General's Office.

If executed, Medellin would be the 410th condemned prisoner to die in Texas since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982, far more than any other state. At least six other Mexican nationals are in that total.

Texas...

[Cali4yaokie]

Texas executes Mexican-born killer

Victim?s father counts down days to Medellin?s execution Video
18 minutes ago

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A Mexican-born condemned prisoner was executed Tuesday night for the rape and murder of two teenage girls 15 years ago after a divided U.S. Supreme Court rejected his request for a reprieve.


"I'm sorry my actions caused you pain. I hope this brings you the closure that you seek. Never harbor hate," Jose Medellin said to those gathered to watch him die. Nine minutes later, at 9:57 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Medellin's execution, the fifth this year in the nation's busiest capital p
unishment state, attracted international attention after he raised claims he wasn't allowed to consult the Mexican consulate for legal help following his arrest. State officials say he didn't ask to do so until well after he was convicted of capital murder.

Medellin, 33, was condemned for participating in the 1993 gang rape, beating and strangling of Elizabeth Pena, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14. He and five fellow gang members attacked the Houston girls as they were walking home on a June night, raped and tortured them for an hour, then kicked and stomped them before using a belt and shoelaces to strangle them.

Their remains were found four days later. By then, Medellin already had bragged to friends about the killings.

Pena's father, who was among the witnesses, gently tapped the glass that separated him from Medellin as he turned to leave the witness chamber after the execution.

"We feel relieved," Adolfo Pena said after leaving the prison. "Fifteen years is a long time
coming."

Several dozen demonstrators, about evenly divided between favoring and opposing capital punishment, stood outside on opposite sides of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit.

Medellin's attorneys contended he was denied the protections of the Vienna Convention, which calls for people arrested to have access to their home country's consular officials.

"Under the circumstances, it's hard to talk about what comes next," lawyer Sandra Babcock said, noting her thoughts were with Medellin's family and the family of his victims. "But now more than ever, it's important to recall this is a case not just about one Mexican national on death row in Texas. It's also about ordinary Americans who count on the protection of the consulate when they travel abroad to strange lands. It's about the reputation of the United States as a nation that adheres to the rule of law."

In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where Medellin was born, a small group of his relatives condemned his
execution.

"Only God has the right to take a life," cousin Reyna Armendariz said. boohoo

Six of his relatives, including Armendariz, and several activists gathered earlier Tuesday in a working-class neighborhood to await word on Medellin's fate.

A large black bow and a banner that read "No to the death penalty ... may God forgive you," hung from an iron fence in front of the house where Medellin lived until moving to the United States at the age of 3. He grew up in Houston, where he learned English and attended school.

The International Court of Justice said Medellin and some 50 other Mexicans on death row around the U.S. should have new hearings in U.S. courts to determine whether the 1963 treaty was violated during their arrests. Medellin was the first among them to die.

President Bush asked states to review the cases, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year neither the president nor the international court can force Texas to wai
t.

Gov. Rick Perry, Texas courts and the Texas attorney general's office all said the execution should go forward and that Medellin has had multiple legal reviews. State officials noted Medellin never invoked his consular rights under the Vienna Convention until some four years after he was convicted.

His lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to stop the execution until legislation could be passed to formalize case reviews ordered by the International Court of Justice.

The high court said in its ruling that that possibility was too remote to justify a stay. Justice Stephen Breyer, one of four justices who issued dissenting opinions, wrote that to permit the execution would place the United States "irremediably in violation of international law and breaks our treaty promises."

Medellin's supporters said either Congress or the Texas Legislature should have been given a chance to pass a law setting up procedures for new hearings. A bill to implement the international
court's ruling wasn't introduced in Congress until last month. The Texas Legislature doesn't meet until January.They never gave the girls a chance.....

On Monday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request for a reprieve and denied his lawyers permission to file new appeals. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles also rejected requests for clemency and a 240-day reprieve.

One of Medellin's fellow gang members, Derrick O'Brien, was executed two years ago. Another, Peter Cantu, described as the ringleader of the group, is on death row. He does not have a death date.

Two others, Efrain Perez and Raul Villarreal, had their death sentences commuted to life in prison when the Supreme Court barred executions for those who were 17 at the time of their crimes. The sixth person convicted, Medellin's brother, Vernancio, was 14 at the time and is serving a 40-year prison term.

[ZKR]

Jenny Ertman (left) with friends

Elizabeth Pena


Two benches were placed in TC Jester Park, each bearing the names of one of the girls.

[Smilin' Jack]

Medellin se encuentra "Frijolero frito, ya!" Que bien hecho eso! Al diablo, pendejo!

[Cali4yaokie]

World Court says U.S. defied order in Mexican in death row case

Tuesday, January 20th 2009, 4:00 AM

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Court of Justice ruled Monday that the United States defied its order last year when authorities in Texas executed a Mexican convicted of rape and murder.

The U.N.'s highest court said the U.S. remains obliged to review the cases of about 50 other Mexicans on death row because they were denied access to their consulate after they were arrested.

But it rejected Mexico's request that Washington guarantee that each case will be reviewed and reconsidered.

Both Mexico and the United States said they were satisfied with elements of the decision.

"It was a m
ixed result," said John Bellinger III, the legal adviser to the U.S. State Department.

He said the court refused Mexico's main request to spell out the U.S. obligations toward the arrested Mexican nationals, which likely would have led to heightened demands on the U.S. courts.

But he was "disappointed" the tribunal declined to acknowledge efforts by the Bush administration to comply with international law and with the court's order.

The Mexican government applauded the ruling in a statement and urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to "take concrete actions" to comply with the ruling and "respect the rights of all Mexican nationals." Obama takes office Tuesday.

The judgment ended a five-year cascade of proceedings in the wake of a 2004 decision by the same court that the U.S. had violated an international treaty by failing to advise 51 Mexicans of their consular rights.

The court required that each case be reviewed to determine whether the lack of diplomatic acces
s could have affected the outcome of their cases.

The U.S. had argued to the tribunal, also known as the World Court, that the federal government had done all it could, but that it had no authority to tell the state courts what to do.

Mexico argued, however, that U.S. obligations to abide by international law also applied to its state governments.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that President George W. Bush had exceeded his authority when he issued a directive in 2005 to the states to comply with the demand by the U.N. court for a judicial review of all cases.

Following that ruling, Mexico hurriedly petitioned the World Court to stop the impending executions of five of its citizens.

The court issued an emergency injunction last July, but three weeks later Texas prison authorities gave a lethal injection to Jose Medellin, convicted of the rape and murder of two teenage girls.

The 12 U.N. judges unanimously ruled the U.S. "has breached the obligation incu
mbent upon it" in the Medellin case.

Bellinger said that ruling was "not a rebuke or a reprimand. It was simply a finding."

Human Rights Watch urged Obama's administration to heed the court's ruling and "to show the world that it will respect the rule of law, even when it's politically unpopular at home."

The World Court is the U.N. body that adjudicates disputes among states. Its judgments are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no enforcement powers.

After the original 2004 decision, the United States withdrew its agreement under the Vienna Treaty, governing the arrest of foreign nationals, to give the Hague court jurisdiction to settle disputes.

Bellinger said that hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals are incarcerated in U.S. prisons, and Washington feared the World Court decision would lead to a flood of litigation.