Which Rights Are Important?
In 1993, 18 year old Jose Medellin (now 32 years old) was a participant in the brutal rape and murder of 14 year old Jennifer Ertman and 16 year old Elizabeth Pena. He and the other four members of his gang attacked the two girls as they were walking home through TC Jester Park in Downtown Houston. All of the members of the gang were prosecuted and sentenced to death. One of the murderers in this case has been executed by the state but all of the other members have gotten stays of execution due to being a minor at the time of the crime or, in Jose's case, being a Mexican national.
Jose has lived in Texas since childhood (There is some discrepancy about when he moved to Houston. According to reports he came over when he was 6 years old, but he claims he was 9 on his penpal request site), was schooled here, used resources and rights as though he was an American, and committed a crime here. Mexican citizen or no, the basics of the American law system are covered in our elementary, middle and high schools, which he had attended at every level.
Though Jose had his Miranda Rights read to him, the police did not inform him that he had a right to speak to the Mexican consulate. I personally was not aware that the police force in Houston needed to be required to know the ins and outs of international law so they would be able to inform an illegal citizen-cum-murderer of his rights. Anyhow, Jose claims on those grounds that he deserves a retrial. The state of Texas denied him a retrial as he never asked for assistance throughout his initial trial.
This case has gone up the ranks and was before the Supreme Court of the United States at the beginning of October. While the case was before the court, President Bush, former governor of Texas, made a statement that had sided with Medellin. Texas is of course fighting back and the case will not be decided until early next summer.
While this has become an excellent discussion of state's rights, my larger concern at the moment is why an illegal immigrant is allowed to murder the legal residents of the country he's crashing in? If an American citizen traveled to another country, murdered someone there, and then CONFESSED TO IT, I would think that they should be held up to the highest law of the land. Their citizen was killed after all. If tables were turned, there would be hell to pay.
The fact that the consulate was not contacted did not come to light until 10 years after the death sentence ruling was made... I'd say that the statue of limitations for complaints was up on that one.
My biggest problem has to do with length of time in the states. If Jose was a visitor, here on the weekend, or something of the like, I would be in complete support of the consulate stepping in and defending him. However, the man lived in the United States for the better part of his life, and it's not like we keep it secret how much the state likes killing people who kill other people around these parts.
For more information on this case, Google "Jose Ernesto Medellin", or check out some of my research:
NPR's Nina Totenberg
ABC News
Fox News (to be fair)
Oyez-The Supreme Court Media
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BLOG 6: Crticism of a Colleague' Work
Sarah Lusk
So...after reading Lindsay's blog about Jose Medellin, the illegal immigrant who in 1993 murdered and raped a 16 year old girl I was enraged. Seems that this criminal now wants a retrial at our expense because no one notified the Mexican consulate of his troubles.
What astonishes me is that I cannot believe that we are giving so many rights to a confessed murderer and rapist who is not even a citizen. Like Lindsay, I also feel that this so-called loop hole that is preventing his execution is ludicrous! She's right. Since when is it the local authorities responsibility to notify the Mexican Consulate for a criminal. He has a lawyer for that. And what bearing does that even have on the case? He was read his Miranda Rights and did make a full confession.
Equally shocking is that once his case reached the Supreme Court our President sided with this creep!!! I think that as an illegal who committed a crime against a U.S. citizen, he should not be entitled to the same privileges as citizens even though he is receiving them. As U.S. citizens, it's safe to say we would probably not receive the same treatment from another country. History has shown that most countries simply deport criminals back to their home countries.
Finally, as Lindsay points out her biggest problem is the length of time he has been in the states. I agree that if he were simply visiting we should notify the Consulate. She also sites that he was 18 years old when he committed the crimes and is now 32. I have to ask, why have we kept an illegal immigrant in our taxpayer funded jails for over 14 years!
My biggest problem is simply that I'm sure he has a court appointed lawyer that we are paying for while he runs our legal system through hoops. We're also paying for his feeding, sheltering, and clothing. Come on!!! He CONFESSED, was convicted and sentenced. Enough of this nonsense! If we aren't going to enforce the death penalty that he was given, we should just deport his @&! back to Mexico.
Let's face it, Mexican jails are whole lot worse than ours.
Now that would be a little justice.
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