A Mexican-born condemned prisoner was executed for the rape and murder of two teenage girls 15 years ago after a divided US Supreme Court rejected his request for a reprieve.
“I’m sorry my actions caused you pain. I hope this brings you the closure that you seek. Never harbor hate,” Jose Medellin said to those gathered to watch him die.
Nine minutes later, at 9:57pm, he was pronounced dead.
PHOTO: AP
Medellin’s execution, the fifth this year in the US’ busiest capital punishment state, attracted international attention after he raised claims that he wasn’t allowed to consult the Mexican consulate for legal help following his arrest. State officials say he didn’t ask to do so until well after he was convicted of capital murder.
Medellin, 33, was condemned for participating in the 1993 gang rape, beating and strangling of Elizabeth Pena, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14. He and five fellow gang members attacked the Houston girls as they were walking home, raped and tortured them for an hour, then kicked and stomped them before using a belt and shoelaces to strangle them.
Their remains were found four days later. By then, Medellin already had bragged to friends about the killings.
Pena’s father, who was among the witnesses at the execution, gently tapped the glass that separated him from Medellin as he turned to leave the witness chamber after the punishment was carried out.
“We feel relieved,” Adolfo Pena said after leaving the prison. “Fifteen years is a long time coming.”
Several dozen demonstrators, fairly evenly divided between favoring and opposing capital punishment, stood outside on opposite sides of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit.
Medellin’s attorneys contended he was denied the protections of the Vienna Convention, which calls for people arrested to have access to their home country’s consular officials.
“Under the circumstances, it’s hard to talk about what comes next,” lawyer Sandra Babcock said, noting her thoughts were with Medellin’s family and the family of his victims. “But now more than ever, it’s important to recall this is a case not just about one Mexican national on death row in Texas. It’s also about ordinary Americans who count on the protection of the consulate when they travel abroad to strange lands. It’s about the reputation of the United States as a nation that adheres to the rule of law.”
In Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where Medellin was born, a small group of his relatives condemned his execution.
“Only God has the right to take a life,” cousin Reyna Armendariz said.
Six of his relatives, including Armendariz, and several activists gathered earlier on Tuesday in a working-class neighborhood to await word on Medellin’s fate.
A large black bow and a banner that read “No to the death penalty ... may God forgive you,” hung from an iron fence in front of the house where Medellin lived until moving to the US at the age of three. He grew up in Houston.
The Mexican government condemned Medellin’s execution, expressing concern for the rights of other Mexicans detained in the US. A Mexican government statement said officials “were concerned for the precedent that [the execution] may create for the rights of Mexican nationals who may be detained in that country.”
The International Court of Justice said Medellin and some 50 other Mexicans on death row around the US should have new hearings in US courts to determine whether the 1963 treaty was violated during their arrests. Medellin was the first among them to die.
US President George W. Bush asked states to review the cases, but the US Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that neither the president nor the international court could force Texas to wait.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, state courts and the state attorney general’s office all said the execution should go forward and that Medellin had had multiple legal reviews. State officials said Medellin had never invoked his consular rights under the Vienna Convention until some four years after he was convicted.
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