Free Republic

An illegal migrant was found guilty of “viciously” raping and murdering Maryland mother of five Rachel Morin — after the jury deliberated for less than an hour Monday afternoon, according to reports. Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense and kidnapping after Morin, 37, was killed along a trail about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore in August 2023. The guilty verdict came after less than an hour of deliberations, WBFF reported. Martinez-Hernandez could spend the rest of his life in prison, according to the station. Harford County State Attorney Alison Healey said she would...

Prompted by an international tribunal's decision last year ordering new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death rows in the United States, the State Department said yesterday that the United States had withdrawn from the protocol that gave the tribunal jurisdiction to hear such disputes. The withdrawal followed a Feb. 28 memorandum from President Bush to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales directing state courts to abide by the decision of the tribunal, the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The decision required American courts to grant "review and reconsideration" to claims that the inmates' cases had been hurt by the...