Father of Murdered Girl Questions Bush’s Support to Halt Killer’s Execution
[snip]The father of a 14-year-old Texas girl who was raped, sodomized and then strangled with a belt and shoe laces, wants to know why President Bush supports halting the execution of the Mexican national who confessed to killing his daughter and her friend.
“Our daughters are just pawns in a game that we have no control over,” Randy Ertman, father of Jennifer Ertman, told FOX News. “What can I say to the president of the United States or the Supreme Court that would make any difference?”
Jennifer Ertman, 14, and her classmate, Elizabeth Pena, 16, were brutally raped and killed in 1993 after stumbling upon a gang. Jose “Joe” Ernesto Medellin, who was born in Mexico but spent much of his childhood in Texas, confessed to the killings and was sentenced to death. But 14 years later, Medellin still sits in a Texas prison cell as the White House argues that his conviction was flawed because Houston police failed to tell him of his right to seek help from the Mexican consulate.
The Supreme Court’s ruling will determine whether the president has the power to order Texas state court to comply with the International Court’s decision. The court will clarify presidential, congressional and court powers and what powers remain with the federal government versus the states.
“It is inexplicable that the president of the United States, our former governor, would turn his back on the families and on these victims and side with the world court and the Mexican government,” said Dianne Clements, president of Houston’s Justice for All, a criminal justice reform organization.
Texas executed 152 inmates while Bush was governor.
Ertman said he feels betrayed by Bush’s decision. Ertman shook Bush’s hand when he was running for president, asking him if he remembered the girls and if he would keep their killers on death row. Bush said he would keep them on death row, Ertman said.
“He shook my hand and lied,” Ertman said.
A California-based legal group filed a court brief on behalf of the family of one of the victims in support of upholding the death sentence for Medellin.
“The big battle is going to be over whether or not Bush’s memo requires state courts to apply the rules of the treaty,” said Michael Rushford, a spokesman of Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300686,00.html
It’s quite explicable, Mr. Ertman.
>>The father of a 14-year-old Texas girl who was raped, sodomized and then strangled with a belt and shoe laces, wants to know why President Bush supports halting the execution of the Mexican national who confessed to killing his daughter and her friend.<<
>>Ertman said he feels betrayed by Bush’s decision. Ertman shook Bush’s hand when he was running for president, asking him if he remembered the girls and if he would keep their killers on death row. Bush said he would keep them on death row, Ertman said.
“He shook my hand and lied,” Ertman said.<<
And then we see Bush defenders complain about “Bush haters” on FR.