Posted on 09/29/2018 6:24:29 PM PDT by waterhill
If you are from Houston you may remember in 1993, when 2 young girls, Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena, ages 14 & 16, were walking home one evening and were abducted, brutally raped and murdered by the members of a gang. The men were caught and tried, found guilty and all except 2 who were juveniles were sentenced to death. One of the men had lived here illegally most of his life. A few years later the United Nations World Court with 60 countries siding with them said Texas violated that man’s rights by not informing him of his right to contact his consulate. Pres. George Bush and Secretary Condi Rice ordered Texas to release him to keep peace with the U.N. The parents of those girls were shocked and devastated that this man would go free. Greg Abbott was the state attorney general at the time. One of his junior attorneys went to argue before the Supreme Court not to allow this murderer to go free. The Texas attorney argued that the Constitution clearly states that the United States is a sovereign nation and no other nation has jurisdiction over our laws. All 60 countries were there arguing against this one attorney from Texas. He won the case, and Texas executed the offender in 2005. That junior attorney was Ted Cruz.
At sentencing, the offenders were remanded to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) system. Peter Anthony Cantu, José Ernesto Medellín, Derrick Sean O'Brien, Efrain Perez, and Raul Omar Villareal received death sentences. Venancio Medellín, the brother of José Medellín, was 14 at the time of the murder, the same age as Jennifer Ertman. Venancio received a 40-year prison sentence. When the Supreme Court of the United States banned the executions of people who committed crimes while they were below 18 years of age, the sentences of Perez and Villareal were automatically commuted life with parole.[2] O'Brien, an African-American and the only non-Hispanic in the gang, was the first to be executed, in July 2006. O'Brien was buried in the Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery in Huntsville, Texas.[1][10] José Ernesto Medellín appealed his execution, saying that he had informed City of Houston and Harris County police officers that he was a Mexican citizen, and that he had been unable to confer with Mexican consular officials. The prosecutors said that Medellín never told authorities that he was a Mexican citizen. Medellín said in a sworn statement that he learned that the Mexican consulate could assist him in 1997.[11] He petitioned the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 1998 regarding this issue; the appeal failed.[12]
The perpetrators who were under death sentences were later moved to the Allan B. Polunsky Unit Medellín's impending execution became an international controversy, since the state did not hold a hearing about whether the inability for Medellín to meet with Mexican consular officials harmed his defense. The right of a defendant to talk with his or her consulate is specified in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations; the United States is a party to the convention, although the U.S. withdrew from compulsory jurisdiction in 1986 to accept the court's jurisdiction only on a case-by-case basis.[13] In 2004 the International Court of Justice responded to a lawsuit filed by Mexico against the United States; the court ordered hearings to be held for inmates, including Medellín, who were denied consular rights.[14] In 2005, President George W. Bush ordered hearings to be held. The State of Texas, represented by Solicitor General Ted Cruz, challenged Bush's order, and the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that only the Congress of the United States has the right to order hearings to be held. In July, the World Court ordered a stay of Medellín's execution. Governor Rick Perry argued that Texas is not bound to World Court rulings. Death penalty opponents protested the impending execution. The families of both Ertman and Peña strongly favored the execution(s).[1]
Randy Ertman (1952 - 2014), father of Jennifer Ertman, wanted to have Andy Kahan, the City of Houston's crime advocate, witness the execution of Medellín. TDCJ refused to permit Kahan to witness the execution.[15] Michelle Lyons, a TDCJ official, said that Tropical Storm Edouard would likely not be a factor preventing the execution of Medellín.[16] José Ernesto Medellín was executed at 9:57 p.m. on August 5, 2008, after his last-minute appeals were rejected by the Supreme Court.[17] Governor Perry rejected calls from Mexico and Washington, D.C. to delay the execution, citing the torture, rape and strangulation of two teenage girls in Houston 15 years ago as just cause for the death penalty.[18] Seventeen years after the crimes, Peter Anthony Cantu was executed on August 17, 2010.[19] The lethal injection was performed at 6:09 p.m. and at 6:17 p.m. Cantu was officially pronounced dead.[20] During his lifetime, Randy Ertman advocated strongly against granting parole to Venancio Medellín.[21]
Thanks. People forget what a great orator he is. His mistake was getting crosswise with Trump. When Trump accused his father of being the hit man on the grassy knoll in 1963, Cruz should have just laughed and let it go.
i wish Trump hadn’t done that. Pretty petty. I still vote for both.
I will never forget that as long as I live. Peter Cantu was a violent little monster who tried to kick the reporters and the camera men while walking into the jail. I’ve often wondered what terror those girls felt especially when Cantu was the ring leader and had a streak of sadism in him. No family member came to his execution and the air in Huntsville is better without his stench stinking it up. Bush being Bush tried like it said to stop the execution of the illegal and Abbott and Perry weren’t about to let that little snot off. Thank you Ted Cruz.
He could be a great Senator if he sets his mind to it.
The Constitution says he can’t be President.
Thanks. My main point in posting this is to remind those who may have moved to Texas recently or those who know someone who has. If anyone wants to copy and share for another site or email someone who may be on the fence.
I’m pretty sure Cruz has the votes, just want to help hammer them down.
As if that would do the trick. As if it would do us any good anyway.
Just globalists doing what globalists do.
Yes, that was one of the first times I was angry with Bush for not standing up for US. I thank God for Abbott, Cruz, and yes, Perry.
The Constitution says he can’t be President.
Specifically, why?
I remember this case, as it gripped not just those of us in the Houston area, but the entire state.
Good article and great reminder.
I wish Cruz would make a great ad, about this as well as all of the BS the Senate Dems have been pulling.
Bait was throw and you bit.
Yes, that was one of the first times I was angry with Bush for not standing up for US. I thank God for Abbott, Cruz, and yes, Perry
I just love Texas.........;)
Pres. George Bush and Secretary Condi Rice ordered Texas to release [the murderer] to keep peace with the U.N
Could be why W came out, during the 2016 campaign, and said he didn’t like...and had had enough of....Ted Cruz.
He is not a natural born citizen which the Constitution demands of any Presidential,or V.P.candidate.
No doubt. Cruz embarrassed W with his competence and respect for national sovereignty.
He is not a natural born citizen.
Natural born citizens are naturally citizens because they cannot possibly be anything else.
Born here of citizen parents.
Ted Cruz was born a Canadian citizen and was one until 2014.
Natural born citizens have only one nationality.
That was the whole point of the requirement.
You should know Trump by now. Cruz started the attack, and Trump always counter attacks. No exceptions!
Agree.
Wasn’t one of Cruz’s brightest moves.
He’s learned a lot, since then :-)
We need Trump and Cruz, and that’s the bottom line.
Since a person born to a Kenya citizen and an underage American woman was allowed to run for president TWICE, precedence overrules your criteria. Judge Kavanaugh is a great fan of precedence. He used that word dozens of times during the judicial committee hearings.
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