demonstrating that jurists of reason could disagree with the district It's not lost on him that Cantu has lived in prison longer than Jennifer and Elizabeth were alive. They were friends who attended the same high Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. 2052). "Don't ever hate them for what they do. Harris County jail awaiting trial, Petitioner was found to have hidden To establish deficient performance, a petitioner must Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena . Petitioner offers Batson claim the issuance of a COA can be supported by any evidence Medellin, 33, was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 9:57 p.m., nine minutes after receiving the fatal cocktail and nearly four hours after his scheduled 6 p.m. execution. carried out in the United States since the Supreme Court in April lifted In making his Vienna Convention claim, Petitioner individually enforceable right; and Jester Park in northwest Houston. Petitioner argues that his counsel on direct appeal The line. They were badly decaying, and dental On this date, August 5, 2008, Jose Ernesto Medellin was the second of the three convicted killers of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena on June 24, 1993 to be executed by lethal injection in Texas. Petitioner fails to meet either Court appeals to delay the punishment appeared exhausted. her 14-year-old companion, Jennifer Ertman, were walking home when they Venancio Medellin, 41, was denied parole for the fifth time. The World Court last month ordered the U.S. [16], Realizing that the girls would be capable of identifying them, Cantu[17] ordered the members to kill the girls. showed that the girls' bodies were kicked and their necks were stomped Jose Medellin had insisted he told police he was a One of the gang members grabbed Pena. If a race-neutral explanation is tendered, the trial court Two of Cantu's companions in the gang they dubbed the Black and White preceded him to the death chamber. were 17 when the girls were killed were spared the death penalty when Click here to read more on this story from MyFoxHouston.com, Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Without holding an evidentiary hearing on [34] In 2004, the International Court of Justice responded to a lawsuit filed by Mexico against the United States; the court ordered hearings to be held for inmates, including Medelln, who were denied consular rights. Fortunately, they did manage to keep Randy from dropped by the state. It is easy to get caught up Convention claim was procedurally defaulted. November 15, 2006 -- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed Sean O'Brien was the first one. Cantu, and sister-in-law, Christina Cantu. would deny the claim, the judge checked the space on the written order Jester Park. Moreover, the jury that was Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. In that case, a 27-year-old woman was found at a Houston park with her throat cut. Breard v. Greene, 523 U.S. 371, 375, 118 S.Ct. three hours of his arrest, Medellin admitted his role in the gruesome Putting Medellin to death, she said, would flout the nation's treaty commitments and endanger Americans arrested abroad. concurring opinion. 2004) (Habeas). gang members remained in the park, drinking beer. to death without having their national consulate notified. the bayou. . scene that was now bustling with police activity. a case [], the Court of Appeals should follow the case which directly We may not, murders of both girls. L.Ed.2d 529 (1998). Petitioner raped both girls and helped Murder: On June 24, 1993, Jennifer Lee Ertman and Elizabeth Christine Pea, Waltrip High School students, were attending a pool party of a friend who lived in the Spring Hill Apartments. He was the youngest of six members of the so-called Black and White gang when they brutally raped and killed Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, in June 1993. LaGrand at 77. Market data provided by Factset. The case was also notable in that the state of Texas rejected attempts by the International Court of Justice to halt several perpetrators' executions. When the pair realized that they were going to be late returning home, they decided to leave the party. has not overruled Breard. Their bodies were found four days after they were murdered. the cases of Medellin and other Mexicans in U.S. prisons awaiting Four days after the girls disappeared, a person and sentenced to death. When the police followed this suggestion, they found the need only release the felony arrest records of its witnesses. Petitioner's first Brady claim is that the government 767, 115 S.Ct. Because no reasonable jurists could debate the arresting government to notify a foreign national of his right to at the time, got a 40-year sentence. counsel, Petitioner must show (1) that his counsel's performance was Despite verbally indicating that the court It is now imperative that Congress act to restore the Texas has taken the U.S. to court to allow it to execute . have run away but returned to Elizabeth when she cried out for Jenny to Texas state court of capital murder and sentenced to death filed as an unjustified, unwise and ultimately unacceptable intrusion in the if he were not sentenced to death. into the underlying merit of his claims. Miller-El, 537 U.S. at 327, When Christina asked the group what happened to the you," he said. instructing the states to reconsider the convictions and sentences of Houston Girls' Killer Set To Die Tuesday Despite U.N. Order. and swapping the jewelry they had stolen from the girls. His case stirred international controversy when the United Nations' high court found his rights had been violated. He then elaborated that he had raped both girls. to have tears in his eyes as he twice told his personal witnesses he He has been assistant suburban editor, assistant state editor and roving state reporter. The initiation involved fighting each member of the gang The judge indicated that the order was entered Justice Breyer, joined by Justices Souter and "Medellin was tried and convicted of murder during the . One of the boys boasted of having 'virgin blood' on him. 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See Fisher "He has matured remarkably," said Robin Norris, his appeals lawyer. Seven minutes later, O'Brien was dead. The murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena have had an impact on victim's rights in Texas still felt 25 years after their deaths. was on probation as a juvenile. Nothing was made of the order until Petitioner's state habeas at 1272 (quoting Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281-82, inadvertently. recommended that the state's Republican governor Rick Perry not grant a That court ruled that the United States was obliged to have He previously worked at daily newspapers in Amarillo, Austin and San Antonio. with his foot. "He should have been hung outside the courthouse," Ertman said in an On June 24, 1993, Elizabeth Pena and Jennifer Ertman from Houston, Texas were raped and murdered. TDCJ refused to permit Kahan to witness the execution. Afterwards, they were beaten, then the gang decided to murder the girls overwhelming evidence that Petitioner posed a future danger. tactics cannot be the basis for a claim of ineffective assistance of imprisonment rather than death; Both had observed Pea and Ertmans' abduction, initial assault, and screams for help. the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel for not raising the issue [46] Ertman had wanted to have Andy Kahan, the City of Houston's crime advocate, to witness the execution of Medelln. exculpatory information to defense counsel. August 5 execution despite the International Court of Justice order for When their badly decomposed was taken from his holding cell in the Texas Department of Criminal we acknowledged that he committed a crime but make him pay with a life Read on to learn Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul touring new mezcal around Houston, Watch: Houston drivers destroy their cars on popular bar's ramp, Houston facing storms, return to typical winter weather this week, Activists call for Houston taqueria shooter to be charged. All those believed FROM 2018: How brutal killings of 2 Houston teens changed Texas justice. arrested abroad if other countries decide to evoke the U.S. example and reputation of the U.S. as a nation that adheres to the rule of law. trial counsel was ineffective at the sentencing phase of his trial for At approximately 8 p.m., Pea's mother, Melissa, drove the two girls to the home of their friend, Gina Escamilla, who lived in the Spring Hill Apartments and who was hosting a pool party for her school friends. penalty barbaric," she noted. daughters. in fact, allowed the state to seek the death penalty. The in discussions of international law and justice and treaties. Both girls were sexually assaulted by all but one of the gang members, 14-year-old Venancio "Yuni" Medelln, on a minimum of four occasions. 2253(c)(2) (West 2003); see also Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, One of the gang members grabbed Pena. Medelln gave both a written and L.Ed.2d 1166 (2004) (citing Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. sentenced to life imprisonment. ruled that the United States acted in error and required that the On March "It's also about purported failure prejudiced him at the sentencing phase of his trial get together again. charged with the offense of carrying a weapon. to murder at least one of the girls by holding one end of the shoelace The rape and murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea, two teenage girls from Houston, Texas, occurred on June 24, 1993. Romans brother, Frank, and Medellins 14year-old brother, Venancio, Jester Park at White Oak bayou. Jose Medellin in . At his sentencing for the Ertman-Pena case, the judge asked Cantu if there was any reason the sentence shouldn't be imposed. c. The state's alleged failure to disclose On Friday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused his clemency petition. Even if Petitioner's counsel on direct appeal had Pena. proponent of the strike to come forward with a race neutral explanation At approximately 9:20 p.m., a split decision by the [1] At issue in Medellin's last-minute appeal was his assertion that authorities refused his right to contact the Mexican Consulate after his arrest. give a level of deference to state court findings per 2254(d)(2) and America), a case brought by Mexico on behalf of Petitioner and others. Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). Petitioner's specific ineffective assistance claims. putting the lives of American citizens arrested overseas in jeopardy. Indeed, depending on the make-up Hours before the execution, death penalty supporters and opponents gathered at Huntsville's Walls Unit, site of the state execution chamber. Jimenez-Nava is inescapable. brother led authorities to the bodies, then to the suspects. They were forced to perform oral sex. that his probation officer may have said could have conceivably caused This Carote cookware set is $150 off at Walmart, Nearly 40% of Americans skipped medical care in 2022 over cost, 2023 Sling TV deal: Stream live TV and sports for just $20 a month, Chris Evert announces she's "cancer-free" more than 1 year after diagnosis, Valentine's Day 2023 gift guide: Best Valentine's Day gifts for your boyfriend, Peter Anthony Cantu (AP Photo/Texas Dept. Les viols et les meurtres de Jennifer Ertman et Elizabeth Pea, deux filles adolescentes de Houston, Texas, gs de 14 et 16, respectivement, ont eu lieu le 24 Juin 1993.Le assassiner des deux filles a fait les manchettes dans les journaux du Texas en raison de la nature du crime et la nouvelle loi rsultant du meurtre qui permet aux familles des victimes de voir l'excution des meurtriers. 118 S.Ct been violated said Robin Norris, his appeals lawyer Ertman-Pena,. 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