Bush, Texas at Odds Over Death Case

[OntarioVanMan]

By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON - To put it bluntly, Texas wants President Bush to get out of the way of the state's plan to execute a Mexican for the brutal killing of two teenage girls.

Bush, who presided over 152 executions as governor of Texas, wants to halt the execution of Jose Ernesto Medellin in what has become a confusing test of presidential power that the Supreme Court, which hears the case this week, ultimately will sort out.

The president wants to enforce a decision by the International Court of Justice that found the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexican-born prisoners violated their rights to legal help as outlined in the 1963 Vienna Convention.

That is the same court Bush has since said he plans to ignore if it makes similar decisions affecting state criminal laws.

"The president does not agree with the ICJ's interpretation of the Vienna Convention," the administration said in arguments filed with the court. This time, though, the U.S. agreed to abide by the international court's decision because ignoring it would harm American interests abroad, the government said.

Texas argues that neither the international court nor Bush has any say in Medellin's case.

Medellin was born in Mexico but spent much of his childhood in the United States. He was 18 in June 1993, when he and other members of the Black and Whites gang in Houston encountered two teenage girls on a railroad trestle.

The girls were gang-raped and strangled. Their bodies were found four days later.

Medellin was arrested a few days later. He was told he had a right to remain silent and have a lawyer present, but the police did not tell him that he could request assistance from the Mexican consulate.

Medellin gave a written confession. He was convicted of murder in the course of a sexual assault, a capital offense in Texas. A judge sentenced him to death in October 1994.

Medellin did not raise the lack of assistance from Mexican diplomats during his trial or sentencing. When he did claim his rights had been violated, Texas and federal courts turned him down because he had not objected at his trial. Mexico later sued the United States in the International Court of Justice in The Hague on behalf of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row in the U.S.

[LDB]

A 25 cent bullet would solve the problem.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB
OOIDA Life Member 677319, JOIN NOW
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

[greg334]

I just posted this in the soapbox forum. I could not get permission to reprint.

[OntarioVanMan]

If the mods see fit they can delete mine and we'll go with yours...and also move Leos response as well...

[hondaking38]

execution for under $100.00 send hin to iraq, sign around his neck saying how muhammed is a sinner, weapon with no rounds, and body armour without, ceramic plates in it.. life expectancy ???15 seconds, photo opportunity?????priceless

[prescat]

I agree with with Honda kings idea. Leo's is good, but way too quick and painless. Unfortunately these matters are usually decided by moronic judges that think they are smarter, and more "progressive" than the rest of society. They forget who they are supposed to represent. They are the same idiots, (along with the politicians, lawyers, and other losers), that bought into the most ridiculous argument ever, that execution by lethal injection is cruel and unusual and inhumane..... when it's going to be used against people that perpetrated some unbelievably heinous crimes. Am I the only one that sees how insane that is?