Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Texas Gang Rape And Murder Case Puts America's Sovereignty In Jeopardy


America's Supreme Court is hearing a case in chambers now that could spell the beginning of the end of America as a sovereign nation, governed by its own laws.

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.

Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena were abducted off the streets, raped, tortured and sodomized for hours, and then strangled with their own shoelaces. Medellin signed a confession detailing exactly what he and his fellow gang members had done to the two girls, and bragged that he had pocketed one girl's Mickey Mouse watch as a souvenir.

Jennifer Ertman, seen here on the left in a photo with friends was only 14 years old when she was murdered. Elizabeth Peña was only 16.













Medellin and four others were convicted of capital murder and sent to Texas' death row. Besides Jose Medellin, the five others involved in the 1993 rape-murder of Houston teenagers Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña were:

• Derrick Sean O'Brien, who was executed in 2006 by lethal injection, a much easier death than his victims had; Peter Cantu, who's awaiting execution, with no date set yet; Efrain Perez and Raul Villarreal, who's sentences were unfortunately commuted to life in 2005 after Supreme Court outlawed executions for those under 18 at the time of their crimes: and Venancio Medellin, The younger brother of Jose Medellin, who was 14 at the time of the murders and pled guilty in juvenile court. He's now serving a 40-year sentence.

Jose Medellin has been gaming the justice system for over ten years, aided by various anti-death penalty groups and self-titled civil liberties groups that are much more concerned with the rights of someone like Medellin than any sort of justice or closure for his victims and their families.

This week, Medellin's case goes to the US Supreme Court for the second time in the 14 years. Medellin has been enjoying life on death row now for a time equal to the entire life span of one of the victims. The issue now is not his confession to the murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña,(the Supreme Court already ruled that his confession was voluntary and his conviction valid) but the fact that as a Mexican national, he was not told he could contact the Mexican Consulate for assistance...even though he'd been living illegally in the US since he was nine years old.

That was apparently a violation of a 1963 treaty known as the Vienna Convention.

Mexico sued the United States on behalf of this creature in 2003 over the consular issue in the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

The court ruled in Mexico's favor in late 2004 (no surprise there) and ordered the United States to reconsider the murder convictions of Medellin and about fifty other illegal aliens on death row for murder. In February 2005, Bush announced that the U.S. would comply, and he would order courts in Texas and elsewhere to review the cases.

A few days later, however, the president withdrew the United States from the part of the Vienna Convention that gives the World Court final say in international disputes.

The Texas Courts re-examined Medellin's conviction and confirmed the sentences, as did the appellate courts.The Texas courts also made the salient point that Medellin and his attorneys failed to complain at his original trial about any violation of his consular rights and had therefore waived them.

The matter is now before the Supreme Court, and believe it or not,the Bush Administration has filed a brief on behalf of Jose Medellin to overturn his conviction!

What the Bush Administration is essentially saying is that Medellin and fifty odd other murderers' convictions should be `Miranda-ized' and overturned because these illegal aliens didn't receive the right to contact the Mexican Consulate for legal assistance.

This is beyond grotesque, especially since the courts involved have already reviewed the cases, which is all the Bush Administration committed to. Yet the Bush Administration is still pushing to have this conviction, as well as the others overturned. I leave it to your imagination as to why.

If the Supreme Court agrees with them, it means that our laws will become subordinated to U.N. resolutions and regulations, subject to the whims of 3rd World nations who form a majority of the governments at the UN. Even worse, it sets a precedent whereby a future president (say, Senator Clinton) could further erode US sovereignty and our Constitution by simply signing a treaty composed by the minions at the UN.

I cannot imagine what the president, with whom I disagree with on many things but who I always credited with being essentially a decent man at heart can be thinking.I doubt he has the requisite equipment, but I wonder what he would say to explain himself face to face to the families of the two victims.

Does he have no sense of justice? Does the Mexican government? Do they really want someone capable of committing these kind of crimes on innocent people walking free?

The case will likely hinge on the swing vote of Justice Kennedy.

The Courts' liberals - Justices Souter, Stevens, Breyer and Ginsburg - have all expressed support for the idea of using international law rather than US legal precedents to decide cases, or in other words, what amounts to judicial `shopping' to find a precedent that fits their preconceived agendas. Ginsburg, in fact actually wrote a law review article advocating that American foreign policy be under the United Nations supervision back when she was general counsel with the ACLU before she was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Clinton.

Justices Scalia, Thomas,Alito,and Chief Justice John Roberts are likely to vote to confirm the sentences and support the Constitution's precedence over foreign law - especially since the US is no longer a signatory to the treaty and the lower courts have already re-examined the case which is all the US was required to do in the first place.

This is a major deal, and will likely be decided within the next few months.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

the vote in the senate to confirm ginsburg was 96-0.
so much for the difference between democraps and repugs.

Joe Gringo said...

Mr. Ertman was on the Laura Ingraham show the other day and said that GW Bush looked him in the eye, shook his hand and told him these monsters would never get off of death row.

Why on earth do we need a
World Court to decide what Texas should do? This is disgusting and very disappointed in Pres. Bush. Those poor girls died a horrible death, these SOB's deserve nothing less than the death penalty.

BTW...nice new digs!

Freedom Fighter said...

Hi Louie, Senor Gringo,
I can't believe President Bush actually had the temerity to look that grieving father in the eye and lie to him like that...but I don't doubt you for a second.

It certainly wouldn't be the first betrayal under the current occupant of the White House's belt.

Is cheap illegal alien labor for big business really that important to him?

What pisses me off even more is that this varmint has already been living on death row longer than one of the victims was alive.He needs punishment from the business end of a 12 gauge.

There's some kind of backroom deal at work here, just like the Dubai Ports deal...what a disgrace.

BTW, glad you like the new look..thanks for the kind words.

ff

Anonymous said...

The back room deal probably has to do with Mexican oil. The US gets a large portion of its oil from Mexico. If this oil were cut off, it would be devestating to the US economy. We could solve alot of this problem by allowing our oil companies to drill for domestic oil and to build more refineries in the US. This is going to mean reigning in the enviro whackos. This would give our politicians more leverage to negotiate with foreign countries. Right now we have no leverage.

I don't think this has any thing to do with cheap illegal alien labor for big business. I think this has to do with an attempt to appease the anti-American left and to appease the Mexican government.

In any event president Bush and his Administration are either A.)low life dispicable creatures who are dishonest snakes or B.)they lack any kind of back bone to stand up to the anti-American left or the Mexican government.

I think the answer is most likely B but it well could be A. If a President and his Administration cannot even stand up to the anti-American left or the Mexican government, how can we expect them to stand up to Islamic terrorists or to the Russians? The best we can say about these people is, to date, they have shown themselves to be very poor leaders and to be totally unworthy of the offices they currently hold.

Anonymous said...

The business end of a 12 guage shot gun is certainly an adequate way to punish this dispicable murderer, however, I think it is far to merciful. I suggest killing him in the same way he killed those girls.

Andrew Craig said...

May I point out that, if the US renounces such treaties, it could mean that when Americans are arrested abroad, they lose the right to contact with their diplomats.

Freedom Fighter said...

Hello Andrew,
Two things - first, the implications of the ICOJ treaty go beyond merely the question of Americans arrested abroad. Given the crazy makeup of the UN, we could see a scenario where US soldiers could be tried and convicted by foreign nations for 'war crimes', as well as US politicians and diplomats.

One can't assume that all nations are like the US or some other western countries when it comes to the rule of law superseding a political agenda...aside form the fact that it directly contradicts our Constitution.

Second, I suggest that you research what has happened to Americans who have had any interaction with what passes for the law or the police in Mexico. The fact that Mexico's government wouild want a brutal rapist and murderer free as a bird speaks volumes about the general political climate down there.

All Best,

ff

Anonymous said...

I just read the first half of the Supreme Court opinion at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/07pdf/06-984.pdf


Note that on page 10, it says that Medellin had lived in Texas since PRESCHOOL.

Anonymous said...

I challenge anyone to show that what the U.S. or Mexico wants is the killer to be as Freedom Fighter says "free as a bird". It just says that the option of contacting your consulate should be given. If you don't support that, then you probably hate Miranda rights as well. All that happens is that he would get a new trial. Do you and all the other death mongers really think that he would be let free? He will be in the same place he is now. Just a few words said could have avoided all this! Also, don't be under the illusion that the U.S. law always supercedes political agendas. Just look at what is happening to suspected, not confirmed, terrorists. Piece by piece the Constitution is being ripped up by the same people who bring up that same Constitution when it comes to gun right. Oh I forgot, I cannot say America is perfect, or risk condemnation, like the people in Cuba or China face...

Freedom Fighter said...

Hello Carlos,
If you read the links and do the research, you'll find out that `free as a bird' is an apt description.

The Mexican government wants Medellin's conviction overturned in spite of the fact that he confessed and there is not an iota of doubt about his guilt... and they want him released. That's what the entire suit before the ICOJ was about.

As for the consular issue, it's nonsense. In his orignal trial and subsequent appeals, it was never mentioned in the least and only surfaced after the ICOJ suit by the Mexican government as a political ploy to get Medellin and several other illegal alien murderers out of the hands of 'gringo justice.'

That's exactly why the US Supreme Court rebuked the Bush Administration for going along with this and ruled that the State of Texas was perfectly within its rights to fry this creep.

Again, it says a lot about the government of Mexico that they would want people like these freed. As an American it's pretty obvious to me what thta means.

I won't dignify your arguments about 'tearing up the Constitution' with an answer, because they're non-facual and because the Medellin case has absolutely nothing to do with Constitutional Law, another reason the Supreme Court upheld Medellin's conviction.

I will ask you this however, human to human: do you want Jose Medellin freed? And don't waffle by saying `Oh, I just want him to have a fair trial', because we both know that if he's freed he will flee to Mexico and that will be that.

Do you want him freed, given what he admitted doing to those poor girls? What if one of them was your daughter or your sister?

A simple yes or no will suffice.

Anonymous said...

I understand all what this guy did and I don't want to sound lie I am defendind him neater I think the idea of Mexican goverment is to freed this kind of beast. Certainly he deserves to die and we should think that his victims did not have this kind of dead and about all what Medellin and his gang did to this little girls. If you thin about justice for the victims and victims' relatives it sounds fair. The question for me and other people that does not like dead penalty is not if they deserve dead or not the question is if there is a partial aplication of this punishment. Why sometimes you hear about cases where people kiling people gets just a few years and some other people gets dead penalty? Does your punishment depends ond how big your pocket is or how expensive and fancy your lawyer is? The question is if the system is really fair and everybody get a fair trial?

Freedom Fighter said...

Hello Anonymous;
Nothing's perfect, but Jose Medellin has had more than his share of justice, I think.

The idea that he's a 'victim' astounds me.

He's already been on death row for a crime he willingly confessed to doing for longer than one of his victims was alive.

I do agree with you that he shouldn't be subjected to lethal injection.

They ought to hang him

ff

Anonymous said...

as a father i have three words GOD BLESS TEXAS!!!! for once some one has stood up to the liberal pukes and did what was right

proud southern dad

Freedom Fighter said...

Damned straight, Southern Dad..too bad they didn't hang him from a tree as an example to others.

Anonymous said...

I was under the impression that Texas retained the rights to secede from the Union...maybe it is time to do so? I was living in Houston at the time of this crime and it was horrendous what those little felons, legal or not, did to those two girls and what they forced those two little girls to do to each other and the felons. This was a crime that through it's atrocities created a binding between the two different cultures. Do not disrespect what the families and community established as a result of this crime. This country will be in real trouble if all of these 50+ immigrants are released as there are no current/effective means to prevent them from returning to do more harm.

Joe said...

I don´t care if the perps are illegal aliens or legal residents. I like the part of the Bible that says 'an eye for an eye'. It´s discouraging to see the courts spending so much time defending the rights of these thugs when they have already confessed to those hideous crimes. I say just waste 'em and let´s move on.

Anonymous said...

As a Singaporean, I find this situation very shameful for USA.

tsk tsk tsk

When one american did the seemingly harmless crime of spray painting other ppl's cars, he was jailed for I think 6 months or more.

There was a huge hue and cry. His dad did everything he could to get his son innocent.

US citizens gave the message "You have no right punish US citizens"
Singapore did no lay off and took an amazing counter back and said " Your citizen misbehaved in my territory, so I can decide what punishment he deserves".

Such a small country Singapore is, yet we had the guts to stand up to mighty USA.

But it is funny to see USA in this rut and not standing for itself.

We Asians have liberty but with great responsibility. We see mutual respect to one another important. So, if you disrespect others, do expect others to disrespect you back.

Get the message, America?

This Jose guy deserves to get executed, regardless whether or not is a mexican, I (you should as well) care less about that and more about the fact that somebody disrespected your country and abused your ppl. And you have the common sense to make a massage to other it is a mistake to cross you.

Anonymous said...

Was the mexican the leader or did he plan all this? because all i'm reading about is the mexican and not about the others?? why is this?

Freedom Fighter said...

As the article makes obvious, The gang rapists were all of mexican descent - except for Derek Sean O'Brien.

The reason you're reading about Jose Medellin is because he is a Mexican national living illegally in America and Mexico protested his possible death sentence - which was the entire point of the article.

Anonymous said...

Jose Medellin was FINALLY executed in 2008. I guess you all can rest easy now. Now if we could only protect our child citizens from American terrorists (school shooters....) When can we let them
see the wrong end of a shotgun and get our justice?