[Guest post by DRJ]
The State of Texas executed Jose Medellin tonight in Huntsville for the June 1993 rape and murder of Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16. Details of Medellin’s horrific crime and recent legal proceedings are at the link.
– DRJ
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Pronounced "Patter-EE-koh"
E-mail: Just use my moniker Patterico, followed by the @ symbol, followed by gmail.com
Profile
Frequently Unasked Questions (FUQs)
Contributor:
Oh,
That
Liberal Media
CaliforniaRepublic.org
Linked by:
Best of the Web
The Corner
How Appealing
Hugh Hewitt
InstaPundit
Kausfiles
Power Line
The Volokh Conspiracy
The statements made on this web site reflect the personal opinions of the author. They are not made in any official capacity, and do not represent the opinions of the author's employer.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Jul | Sep » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Powered by WordPress.
Prayers for the Ertman and Pena families at this time of reminders of their loss….
God Bless….
Comment by reff — 8/5/2008 @ 10:25 pm
I’m sorry for those poor girls.
Comment by steve miller — 8/5/2008 @ 10:27 pm
He did the crime, he languished in prison for years, and now he is doing the time . . . an eternity’s worth in the Seventh Circle.
Comment by Icy Truth — 8/5/2008 @ 10:29 pm
The guy admitted BOASTED about doing it. Is there really any confusion about his guilt? What purpose would talking to the Mexican consulate serve? Our country, our laws, our punishment. If he would have stayed away from a piss-ant gang, he wouldn’t have been in that situation. I say justice served.
Comment by fngJD — 8/5/2008 @ 10:30 pm
Texas, in its’ justifiably inimical way, tells the Mexican Government (again) where to get off!
At least someone in gov’t service still has a backbone.
Comment by Another Drew — 8/5/2008 @ 11:00 pm
Oh, this doesn’t pass the global test. Bye, Jose!
Comment by Pablo — 8/5/2008 @ 11:04 pm
I defended the administration’s losing position when the case was argued. I was persuaded by Robert’s analysis of the treaty that my original view was wrong.
As for this — good riddance.
Comment by wls — 8/6/2008 @ 12:03 am
I think justice was done tonight (albeit horrifically delayed) but what I think is even more important is that the State of Texas just stuck its thumb in the eye of the International Court of Justice.
A Texas official said, “The ICJ doesn’t have jurisdiction over Texas.” And that official was damned well right. Or over any of the other 49 (57?) states. The ICJ doesn’t qualify as a “court” under Article III of the Constitution, and the ICJ can go take a long walk off a short pier.
Comment by Steven Den Beste — 8/6/2008 @ 1:08 am
If you come to Texas and kill someone, we will kill you back.
Comment by Ron White — 8/6/2008 @ 4:55 am
I hope it’s a slow-roast in hell for this one…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/6/2008 @ 5:32 am
All the Mexicans wanted to do was get this killer released. They don’t care about the lawlessness of their nationals while they are in the US. They just don’t want US killing their killers.
Comment by PCD — 8/6/2008 @ 5:48 am
Too bad the SOB couldn’t be sodomized for a few agonizing hours before we lit him up. Damn that 8th amendment (big grin).
Comment by Palerider — 8/6/2008 @ 6:08 am
Frankly, I think an execution should mirror the crime as much as possible…
After all, it wasn’t so cruel and unusual to them that they were unwilling to do it to another human being…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/6/2008 @ 6:21 am
13, Scott, sounds like you believe in “Balancing”.
I note Liberals never complain that killers do not honor their victims’ rights, nor do they grant clemency.
Comment by PCD — 8/6/2008 @ 6:51 am
Nah…
I’m just one sick fucker…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/6/2008 @ 7:00 am
Hey, don’t look at me… I didn’t say that…
Comment by Drumwaster — 8/6/2008 @ 7:24 am
anyone know where the link to the story is?
Comment by ty — 8/6/2008 @ 7:47 am
Under the hyperlink on the word “executed” in the original post.
Comment by Drumwaster — 8/6/2008 @ 7:54 am
It was just.
Comment by Patricia — 8/6/2008 @ 7:57 am
Good riddance, and good on Texas for telling off the ICJ. How dare they try and command the US to do their bidding?
Comment by Andy — 8/6/2008 @ 8:10 am
Good.
Comment by Michael Ejercito — 8/6/2008 @ 8:56 am
This monster committed his crimes in Texas and should be tried and convicted in Texas. Justice served, based on law. I’m glad how it turned out.
Having said that, I am against the death penalty.
With the cost of our criminal trials and lawyer expenses for re-trials (which are necessary no matter how you feel about the death penalty), what’s wrong with putting this guy in a 10 foot by 10 foot cell with a tiny slit for 3 lousy meals a day. No internet, no books, no magazines etc.
Comment by Oiram — 8/6/2008 @ 9:43 am
Nothing, unless you’re asking the ACLU and a frighteningly large number of people on the Left.
Personally, I think Rec Time shoudl consist of moving a pile of rocks from Point A to Point B…
But apparently we have to give them legal libraries and premium cable…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/6/2008 @ 9:52 am
How about just standing him up against a wall?
Or, we could outsource this to the Chinese -
He’ll get his 10X10 until that unannounced day that his jailer walks into his cell, and puts a single pistol bullet into the back of his head.
Plus, they then bill the family for the cost of the burial (after harvesting any useful organs), and the cartridge.
Cold! & Absolutely no recidivism!
Comment by Another Drew — 8/6/2008 @ 9:56 am
Robert Blake’s theme song for Baretta said don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time..don’t do it.
Take away some of the perks of incarceration. To me Papillion painted a grim picture of French Justice. I’d prefer death to living the rest of my life or even significant time in a setting like HBO’s OZ. Some of us don’t have the steely resolve and confidence of a Gordon Liddy in a nasty ass prison environment.
Wondering what effect that Az. Sheriff Joe’s policies have on recidivism there? Turn all the misunderstood sociopaths into little Sisyphus replicants busting rocks in the hot sun? Chain gangs building infrastrucure? Ok, the unions would be put out with that. Ships their sorry asses to a ANWR gulag?
Comment by madmax333 — 8/6/2008 @ 10:16 am
I certainly don’t mind him being executed in the abstract, but I don’t agree that the U.S. should piss off on international law just for the sake of it. If we didn’t want to give Mexican nationals the substantive right to contact their consulate we shouldn’t have signed the treaty. I agree with the S.Ct’s analysis that the treaty was not self-executing, but Congress should have passed executing language and Texas should have started over out of comity. If you don’t want to be bound by the relevant international law don’t sign the treaty.
Comment by TomO — 8/6/2008 @ 10:25 am
#23 Scott. Well the ACLU needs to spend more time protecting the right to life for prisoners and less time worrying about their conditions once they are in prison.
You would be surprised how many liberals agree with me.
Scott said:
“Personally, I think Rec Time shoudl consist of moving a pile of rocks from Point A to Point B…”
Scott we can finally agree on something
Comment by Oiram — 8/6/2008 @ 10:28 am
I don’t even have a problem with them having that right…
The thing is, we didn’t DENY him that right. He and his lawyers had a LONG time to bring the issue up. Waiting until RIGHT before your execution to mention “Oh, by the way, I think I should have talked to someone at the Mexican Embassy” isn’t the way to do it.
Besides, even if he had, the verdict would have been the same - it isn’t like they could have forced us to NOT seek the death penalty…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/6/2008 @ 10:32 am
As a gesture of international goodwill, Texas should send his head back to Mexico, since the Mexican government placed so much value on it.
Comment by Cicero — 8/6/2008 @ 10:32 am
No, Texas should treat his corpse with respect and give it to his family for proper burial. The worst part about the death penalty is some of its supporters.
Comment by nk — 8/6/2008 @ 10:35 am
Tell that to Clinton when he signed Kyoto, then got back a resounding 95-0 “NO!” when it came to ratification.
And it also falls out of proper justification when Mexico started shielding its murderers from US justice by saying that they would not do so unless the prosecutor took the death penalty off the table, and that is something a foreign power doesn’t have the authority to demand. They even prosecuted a bounty hunter for grabbing a fugitive from a Mexican location.
They can’t have it both ways: trying to force us to accept their illegals and yet not to punish the criminals among them.
That brings up another point: where was this alleged treaty when the California kid got caned for graffiti? The public decision at the time was “you go to a foreign country, you obey their laws or you suffer their punishment.”
Well, the punishment in Texas for raping and killing two little girls is Death.
‘Nuff said.
Comment by Drumwaster — 8/6/2008 @ 10:36 am
I’ll defer to your feigned moral superiority.
Comment by Cicero — 8/6/2008 @ 10:50 am
I support the death penalty. I also support IQ tests for death penalty jurors.
Comment by nk — 8/6/2008 @ 11:12 am
You should. He’s right.
And I’m not morally superior to anyone…
I’d need morals first.
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/6/2008 @ 11:16 am
He’s described as a Mexican national or Mexican citizen. I’m guessing that’s MSM-speak for “illegal alien”. Anyone know how many other times Medellin was arrested in the US?
Comment by Mike — 8/6/2008 @ 11:37 am
the girls were slowly strangled with their own shoelaces, which alternated between tightening and loosening to prolong their agony for the gangs’ amusement…
Comment by ROBERT RUDZKI — 8/6/2008 @ 1:39 pm
I dont think the men of this world should of taken action with their own hands I know its hard and horrible what he did but no one has the right to take someones life away the only one that can is god and he is the only one its very indignant that they did this to him they should of just left him in there for life and the lord would of taken care of this people just judge but dont care how he feels no one has the right to just say your schedule to die today but all I can say ill leave it to the lord.. God Bless
Comment by Angie — 8/6/2008 @ 2:24 pm
Another victory for Americas sovreignty.(spelling?)
You don’t get civil rights if you’re not a civilian. And why are LIBS outraged, you can tell by the silince in the “drive by” media. Guess it’s just another story that doesn’t fit the ADGENDA!!!
Comment by WVerik — 8/6/2008 @ 4:05 pm
“…doesn’t fit the ADGENDA!!!”
RIGHT! Can’t attack the big McBushHitler if they actually supported the poor little darlings attempts to put-aside his conviction/execution due to his not being able to talk to the Mexican Counsel - though he never told anyone that he wasn’t an American Citizen. Since he’d gone to school here (believe he came here prior to 10-yrs of age), everyone assumed he was a citizen. Only at the end of the process did his atty’s raise the Counsel issue. Hell, I bet his original atty didn’t know (or care) that he was an illegal.
Comment by Another Drew — 8/6/2008 @ 4:35 pm
I feel bad for those 2 little girls,what Jose did was wrong very wrong and
I am sure he regret it all this time behind bars,
lest remember he was a teenager and God is the only one who decide who and went someone should die”
Medellin was not God for sure,he made a big mistake,like many other teenager
but I’m not agree of killing that’s not the solution Jose Medellin he was already TOO MANY years in prison
I think spend the rest of his life in prison probably be better!!
killing Medellin won’t bring This Family their child’s but maybe will bring them peace
I personal not agree God doesn’t s like that!
Violence generate Violence..
Comment by Twyla — 8/6/2008 @ 5:24 pm
Actuall, in this case it made certain that this one double-murderer would never hurt anyone ever again…
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/6/2008 @ 5:41 pm
If Texas has a constitutional right, why should it give it up? It didn’t sign the treaty. The President and the federal government have constitutional restrictions limiting their power - if all they had to do to annul those limitations is to sign treaties with other countries declaring the limits on their power void, the Constitution would be worthless.
Comment by Anon — 8/6/2008 @ 6:55 pm
If the consular notification provision isn’t self-executing (as the Supreme Court held), isn’t it possible the US viewed it the same way when the treaty was signed? In other words, the US and other signatories may have viewed this provision of the treaty as an advisory rather than a mandatory provision.
Comment by DRJ — 8/6/2008 @ 7:02 pm
We are not taking away God’s right to judge this man. We’re just giving him “cut-sies” to the head of the line.
If you believe in reincarnation or Karma, then we’re sending him back to the foot of the queue.
Comment by Drumwaster — 8/6/2008 @ 7:25 pm
Medellin called his crime an “adolescent choice”…yeah sure, raping, torturing, sodomizing and killing two innocent girls is just a bad choice by a poor teenage boy. I am tired of these excuses and am tired of the stupid parents who make the choice to have kids but shirk the responsibility to raise them.
I wish Medellin was tortured just as those girls were, and felt their pain and fear before he died. He is lucky he died within minutes….they endured more than an hour of torture before death.
Comment by D C — 8/7/2008 @ 2:50 pm
Do any of you even know Jose? Have you ever talked to him? Probably not. He did this when he was 18 years old. He was not the same person when he died. I am sorry for the families of the victims but I do not see how murdering Jose was any better than what he did. Did you know that he has a daughter? She now has to live with the fact that her father was murdered. I will miss my friend for the rest of my life. I don’t care how many angry posts I get in response because I knew Jose as a person. I am a Christian and I do not believe in murder of any sort for any reason. Jose did not go to Hell of that I am sure. He is in a better place and when I get there I will see my friend again.
Comment by Tabitha — 8/13/2008 @ 3:21 pm
What do you think of the status of the girls he raped and butchered? I think if their truly is a god, your “friend” is burning in hell for an eternity. In any case, he won’t be killing anyone again in this lifetime..no chance for recidivism. pity that Mumia, OJ, Bobby Blakes and Phil Spector aren’t joining him in Hades. Boo friggin’ hoo- cry me a river. Your friend made his own choices in life and thankfully was caught and convicted. Sorry he couldn’t rot in a real prison and be someone’s painful sex object too.
Comment by madmax333 — 8/13/2008 @ 3:29 pm
Yes he was. He was a murderer. Did time somehow reverse itself and bring those two girls back from the dead?
Ironic, then, that he would choose to take away from their parents two little girls. Or the irony.
Were I her, I would be more concerned with the fact that half my genes came from a man who raped and murdered two little girls.
I bet the parents of those two little girls miss their daughters very much. More than you’ll miss your friend, I’d wager, since they were their children. And they’ve been doing it longer, and you had the chance to say goodbye. They didn’t. Their children were brutalized and taken away from them.
Not angery… Just disappointed that you think your sympathy lies with the murderer, and not with those whom he murdered.
I would then suggest re-reading Exodus 21:23–27. And while the Lord may sayeth that vengence is his, I tend to think of that in more of a metaphysical sense, dealing with punishment in the here-after. I’m more than willing to arange for people like that rapist and murderer Jose Medellin to make the Lord’s aquaintance.
If Jose didn’t go to Hell, then I’m not entirely sure I want to go to Heaven, as the entire concept behind it would be tainted with filth like that rapist and murderer Jose Medellin.
Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/13/2008 @ 3:30 pm