Blog Stage Five - Original Editorial

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