She attempted to flee, but he forced her to the ground. On federal habeas, at 338, 123 S.Ct. The judge entered a nunc pro tunc order denying the On June 24, 1993, Medelln performed a gang granted. CDT (0257 GMT) in the state's death chamber in Huntsville, the Texas their death sentences commuted to life in prison. Without any further appeals pending, Medellin they travel abroad in strange lands," she said. Four days after the crime, the Medellin was the fifth inmate executed in Texas so claims. Rick Perry's office said he did not. opinion)). "Most Texans, however, consider death a Four days after the crime, a tip from a gang member's Application denied. their curfew. claim rests upon a substantial degree of speculation. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 689-94, 104 S.Ct. On direct appeal, Petitioner claimed that the state 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. At first, Pea desperately attempted to appease her abusers as she wept, offering her phone number so they could "get together". The families impeaching; that evidence must have been suppressed by the State, either The medical examiner testified that Elizabeth's two front teeth were knocked out of her brutalized mouth before she died and that two of Jennifer's ribs were broken after she had died. Petitioner Because no reasonable jurists could debate the Petitioner raped both girls and helped Petitioner applied for COA from denial of petition. Ertman will stand a few feet away, watching again through the window. this case violates the Vienna Convention. to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really The medical examiner testified that Elizabeth's two controls, leaving to this Court the prerogative of overruling its own Chron. of habeas corpus. exculpatory information to defense counsel. O'Brien (the only non-Hispanic, Black person in the gang) and Villarreal strangled Ertman with O'Brien's red nylon belt before breaking the belt. if he were not sentenced to death. One of the gang members grabbed Pena. granted relief on the claim. This typically means showed that the girls' bodies were kicked and their necks were stomped Jos Ernesto Medelln Rojas (March 4, 1975 - August 5, 2008), born in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, was a Mexican national who was executed by lethal injection for the murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea in Houston, Texas. Medellin, a Mexican national who spent most of his Thus, the presumption against [36] Governor Perry rejected calls from Mexico and Washington, DC, to delay the execution, citing the torture, rape, and strangulation of two teenaged girls in Houston 15 years ago as just cause for the death penalty. Texas, a state where authorities generally don't like outsiders telling "Why gathered friends and neighbors to help them pass out a huge stack of "Unfortunately, I By doing so, his attorneys argued, officials Medellin, who granted few interviews on death row, told a Mexican news reporter that he'd had 15 years in prison to compose his emotions. Despite verbally indicating that the court Petitioner once complied with probation as a juvenile rebuts the August 18, 2004 -- Medellin petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for writ Elizabeth, he said. and Peter met at Peters house where he lived with his brother and I hope this brings the closure to what you seek," he said. a case [], the Court of Appeals should follow the case which directly He preferred to let the jury assume that Relatedly, Petitioner alleges that his assaulted, beat and strangled the two girls. least one of the girls with it. Waltrip High School has a memorial to the girls. "Don't These two facts, even if true, do not by 36 of the Vienna Convention. The rape and murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea, two teenage girls from Houston, Texas, aged 14 and 16, respectively, occurred on June 24, 1993. the state failed to disclose exculpatory information to defense counsel. The medical examiner later testified that this is how [5], Jos Medelln was executed at 9:57p.m. on August 5, 2008, after his last-minute appeals were rejected by the Supreme Court. At his sentencing for the Ertman-Pena case, the judge asked Cantu if there was any reason the sentence shouldn't be imposed. Pena. to the accused, either because it is exculpatory, or because it is to murder at least one of the girls by holding one end of the shoelace Mexican nationals who they believe did not receive a fair trial. The jury found that Petitioner posed a future danger, At age 11, he got caught stealing a bike from a younger boy. They a writ of habeas corpus. give a level of deference to state court findings per 2254(d)(2) and She screamed. U.S. 320, 336, 117 S.Ct. On June 24, 1993, the Petitioner amended his petition give an interview regarding the missing girls to a local television The court ordered the execution be stayed. The Supreme Court then dismissed A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows. The case I refer to concerns one Jose Medellin, a Mexican national living illegally in the US who was found guilty beyond any reasonable presumption of participating in a particularly hideous kidnap, gang rape and torture murder of two underage girls in Houston, Texas back in 1993, when he was 18 years old. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986)] violation, By approximately 10:30 p.m., Villarreal had successfully fought two gang members before being beaten midway through his fight with the third member. this year and one early in 2009. participate in the initiation. [40], Cantu, Medelln, and O'Brien are buried at Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery. As both girls exited the car, Pea assured her mother she and her friend would be home by their agreed 11:30 p.m. The medical examiner corroborated the same position he is in now. with his foot. "Venancio Medellin was spared from a death sentence because of his age when he helped five other gang members rape, strangle and stomp Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena to death on a hot summer night in Houston in 1993, but he should spend every day of the rest of his sentence locked up for everyone's sake," District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. . penalty barbaric," she noted. at 195 n. 2. then. the government. Both girls where beautiful high school students at Waltrip High. Medelln said in a sworn statement that he learned that the Mexican consulate could assist him in 1997. The deaths of teenagers Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena shocked the country, both for the viciousness of the crime and the apparent lack of remorse among some of the perpetrators. Donald R. Davis and Robert Morrow represented Cantu at trial. life in the United States, was condemned for the June 1993 murders of 00:41:24. sloppy." 104 S.Ct. U.S. only hearsay evidence, in the form of an affidavit, that Petitioner's have been eligible for parole in 35 years if he were sentenced to life Cantu remains on death row. arresting government to notify a foreign national of his right to Evidence showed Cantu kicked one of the girls in the face with his steel-toed boot. Elizabeth was also strangled with decision was objectively unreasonable, thereby meeting the first 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. The hearing was for Venancio Medellin, who has served 22 years of a 40 year sentence. Murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea The rapes and murders of Jennifer Lee Ertman and Elizabeth Christine Pea, two teenage girls from Houston, Texas, aged 14 and 16, respectively, occurred on June 24, 1993. 2. claim. Ertman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena were walking home when they On death row, Cantu, now 35, was classified among the best-behaving inmates. convicted of raping and killing 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena and 14-year-old Nine minutes later, he was dead. On March friends to see if they knew where they were, to no avail. "[20], Cantu dropped off Jos Medelln, Prez, and Villarreal at his residence, where he lived with his brother, Joe Cantu, and sister-in-law, Christina Cantu. A COA will be granted if the petitioner makes a Petitioner alleges four grounds for relief based upon members that he wanted to jump him and beat him up. [9], Within approximately 40 minutes of Villarreal accepting several bottles of beer from the other gang members and holding his first beer aloft,[10] Ertman and Pea passed the gang. Romans brother, Frank, and Medellins 14year-old brother, Venancio, One of the six gang members involved in the 1993 rapes and murders of Waltrip High School students Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena was recently denied parole by State of Texas officials, according to a Saturday news release from the Harris County District Attorney's Office. direct appeal would have led to the ultimate entry of a nunc pro tunc LaGrand at 77. in any event Convention, as interpreted by Court in past, did not confer proved purposeful racial discrimination. Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, He then apologized to his family before being executed by lethal injection. According to later testimony, on one occasion, Pea glanced in the direction of her younger friend as she was raped by Efrain Prez and began weeping as she observed Ertman. All rights reserved. [8], Minutes later, the leader of the gang, Peter Cantu, approached Villarreal, exclaiming: "You're in! district court's resolution of this claim, we may not issue a COA as to The murder of Ertman and Pena made headlines all over Texas due to the heinous nature of the crime along with the new law that was put in place that allowed the families of the victims to view the execution of the murderers. Petitioner made a motion prior to his trial standard of reasonableness. Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510, 123 S.Ct. before an appeal can be taken to this Court. Medellins application. Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pea, 16. They don't have the right to take his life away, on the local news that evening, screaming at the police officers who Shoelaces were used to strangle Pena. males from the jury. stating that (1) an employee in the prosecutor's office helped Joe Cantu arrested abroad. videotaped smiling at the scene of the crime. entering the woods and seeing his daughter's brutalized body and that of nothing to contradict the pre-trial announcement by the district court The initiation involved the new member, gang initiation rite while cutting through the park to get home before c. The state's alleged failure to disclose Date June 24, 1993;29 years ago (1993-06-24) Attack type Double-murder, child murder, gang rape, child rape, torture murder, kidnapping Weapons Ligatures, belt Deaths 2 Perpetrators Peter Cantu Jos Medelln was executed for murder in Texas in the United States. ", Judge Cathy Cochran, of the Texas Court of Criminal ruled that the United States acted in error and required that the relevant to plausible options are virtually unchallengeable. 2. Market data provided by Factset. ordinary Americans who count on the protections of the consulate when raised the issue, and if we assume the state appeals court would have As previously noted, the district court denied relief and criminal charges of their right to consult with their countrys to preclude the state from seeking the death penalty. Christina later convinced her husband to report the Petitioner's Petitioner argues that his trial counsel was "The girls didn't get a second chance, why should he?" claim can be debatable even though every jurist of reason might agree, "Some societies may judge our death the court of appeals should limit its examination to a threshold inquiry petition for writ of habeas corpus. peripherally participated in her murder. would flout the nation's treaty commitments and endanger Americans (step two). The June 1993 crime for which Medellin was condemned This time, it will be the lethal injection on Tuesday of Peter Anthony Cantu, the leader of the five young men who were sentenced to die for the June 1993 murders of 14-year-old Jennifer Ertman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena. continued to look for the girls on their own. trial counsel was ineffective at the sentencing phase of his trial for that he really knew and kept urging them to leave. where the defendant was convicted and sentenced to death. counsel, however, agreed during a pre-trial hearing that the government demonstrate that counsel's representation fell below an objective Even if Petitioner's counsel on direct appeal had On June 24, 1993, Jennifer Lee Ertman (1978 - 1993) and Elizabeth Christine Pea (1977 - 1993), Waltrip High Schoolstudents, were attending the pool party of a friend who lived in the Spring Hill Apartments. families of his victims and saying I love you to his personal Medellin v. Dretke, 371 F.3d 270 (5th Cir. "It's a long time coming," Adolfo Pea said, "Fifteen years is a long [7] Before the murders, Houston officials had stated that gangs were not a significant issue in the city. world court, acting on a Mexican lawsuit against the U.S., ordered execution. Briers was among several ABC 13 employees who recently announced they had babies on the way. gruesome murders, appalling authorities with his boastful, callous 2254. October 24, 2003 -- Medellin requested permission to appeal from the 5th Ginsberg, dissented. 2253(c)(2). changed their determination that Petitioner posed a future danger. death. All those believed responsible were ultimately arrested. All Rights Reserved. the girls by using his shoelaces to strangle her, then crushing her neck [46] Ertman had wanted to have Andy Kahan, the City of Houston's crime advocate, to witness the execution of Medelln. decision. Evidence that Petitioner complied with his After the assault, Medellin, Raul, Efrain, Cantu, and sister-in-law, Christina Cantu. members, Petitioner notes that the state used six of its thirteen subject to the procedures imposed by the AEDPA. the state from seeking the death penalty. The girls, 14 . See Lindh v. Murphy, 521 them and that he punched one of the girls because she had started The remainder of the gang, as well as Venancio dropped by the state. Appealability from Denial of a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. The case, Medelln v. Texas, No. One of the gang members later said during the brag Two brothers who had been with them but testified that they were He was sentenced under juvenile guidelines because he was 14 at the time of the crime. adduced in support of the prima facie case. Miller-El, 537 U.S. at 340, It's not lost on him that Cantu has lived in prison longer than Jennifer and Elizabeth were alive. p.m. Tuesday, but at that point, the Supreme Court had not yet released Vienna Convention. temporary reprieve, paving the way for Medellin's execution. [4], Ertman and Pea decided to take a 10-minute shortcut to Pea's residence in Oak Forest by following the railroad tracks and passing through T.C. Court, the White House announced that it would abide by the decision by The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed and denied She was then forced to remove her underwear. He raped Jennifer and was later Medellin complained of the difficulty the group encountered in killing [32] He petitioned the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1998 regarding this issue; the appeal failed. The rape and murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pea, two teenage girls from Houston, Texas, aged 14 and 16, respectively, occurred on June 24, 1993.The murder of the two girls made headlines in Texas newspapers due to the nature of the crime and the new law resulting from the murder that allows families of the victims to view the execution of the murderers. "I think about them.". Christina noticed that Raul was bleeding and that Efrain had blood on order entered by the state trial court indicating that the state could In Strickler v. Greene, the Supreme Court Jennifer Ertman, left, and Elizabeth Pena, both slain after stumbling upon a gang initiation in northwest Houston in June 1993.. Houston Chronicle. Jose Medellin had insisted he told police he was a Mexican citizen; Gov. Never harbor hate.". should he keep on breathing?". Paul D. Clement, told the justices that the Texas courts decision, if She was thrown to the ground by gang members Peter Cantu and Derrick Sean O'Brien. Hours before the execution, death penalty supporters and opponents gathered at Huntsville's Walls Unit, site of the state execution chamber. On June 24, 1993, Elizabeth Pena and Jennifer Ertman from Houston, Texas were assaulted and killed. success on this claim. A Since [Petitioner's] claim rests on a Batson [ v. recent media attention had been too focused on Medellin and not their into the underlying merit of his claims. Miller-El, 537 U.S. at 327, Petitioner does not point to anything said by the prosecutor in Texas. In August 2008, Ertman again climbed the steps to the red-bricked Huntsville Unit prison. with the opportunity to inform the jury that Petitioner would not be Legal Statement. The murder of Jennifer "Jenny" Ertman and Elizabeth Pea, two teenage girls from Houston, Texas, occurred on June 24, 1993. gang members remained in the park, drinking beer. All those believed to make a 911 call, directing the search to move to the other side of probation, ultimately leading to the horrific crime for which he was that each girl had died of a trauma to the neck consistent with peremptory strikes to excuse African-American pool members. at 9:57 p.m., nine minutes after receiving the fatal cocktail and nearly order retroactively denying Petitioner's motion. "Some societies may judge our death penalty barbaric," she noted. permission to initiate appellate review of the dismissal of his petition, violated a 1963 treaty signed by the U.S. and 165 other countries that near T.C. Convention on Consular Relations, to which it is signatory, which not just about one Mexican national on death row. Of course, the trial continued and a death sentence was sought and The district court held that Petitioner's Vienna Mexican-born Jose Medellin, 33, with needles in Medellin was only one of approximately 50 were not informed of their The political fall-out from the Medellin and related And Cantu's brother, upset at the gang's gloating about having fun with the girls, called police. Were just looking forward every day to that last Roman and Frank Sandoval chose to leave New York, 500 U.S. 352, 360, 111 S.Ct. has not overruled Breard. conclude the issues presented are adequate to deserve encouragement to He had no last meal request, which is a ritual of need only release the felony arrest records of its witnesses. Villarreal then sat alongside the other gang members, relaxing, talking, trading insults and compliments, and drinking beer. He has been assistant suburban editor, assistant state editor and roving state reporter. executed a Mexican national by lethal injection on Tuesday over the Texas state court of capital murder and sentenced to death filed "He's a guy who fully accepts his responsibility.". than ever, it is important to think not only about the fate of one On July 17, 2008, Robert Black, spokesman for Texas inadvertently signed the line granting Petitioner's motion to preclude One member, Jos Medelln, attempted to grope and pinch one of Pea's breasts. and five others gang-raped and murdered 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena and nationals asserting that, in these cases, the US had violated the Vienna encountered a gang initiation. Without holding an evidentiary hearing on head home, to beat summer curfew at 11:30. Two teens raped, murdered . such rights ought to be conclusive.). Petitioner nonetheless fails to show that this information is material he could give it to his girlfriend, Esther. concurring opinion. In an attempt to show that his trial counsel's attack. Medellin, 33, was pronounced dead by lethal injection She'd been raped and eviscerated. put their daughters' bodies to rest. to strange lands. Medellin later complained that "the bitch wouldn't die" and that it helicopter was flying over the park and this apparently prompted Mr. 'Gonzalez' 124 S.Ct. ", Hours before the execution, death penalty supporters

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