HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Mexican-born condemned prisoner was executed tonight 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.
Jose Medellin’s case 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, faced lethal injection 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.
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.
The International Court of Justice said Medellin and about 50 other Mexicans on death rows 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 wait.
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 of capital murder.
“I don’t want sympathy or pity, I’d rather have your anger,” Medellin said on an anti-death penalty Web site where prisoners seek pen pals. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I’m where I’m at because I made an adolescent choice. That’s it!”
Medellin was 3 when he came to the United States and grew up in Houston, where he learned English and attended school.
His lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to stop the execution until legislation can 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. Four justices issued dissenting opinions. Justice Stephen Breyer 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.
Randy Ertman, who lost his daughter in the attack, said Medellin’s supporters were misguided.
“Mexico has a big yard down there full of filth and murders and gangs and drug cartels and they’re not mentioning anything about that,” he said. “There’s where they need to start their work.”
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