HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Mexican-born condemned prisoner was executed Tuesday night for the rape and murder of two teenage girls 15 years ago after a divided U.S. 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, he was pronounced dead.
Medellin’s execution, the fifth this year in Texas, attracted international attention after he raised claims that he wasn’t allowed to consult the Mexican consulate for legal help after 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 Peña, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14. He and five fellow gang members attacked the Houston girls as they were walking home on a June night, 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.
Peña’s father, who was among the witnesses, gently tapped the glass that separated him from Medellin as he turned to leave the witness chamber after the execution.
Medellin’s attorneys contended he was denied the protections of the Vienna Convention, which calls for people arrested to have access to consular officials.
The International Court of Justice said Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death rows around the U.S. should have new hearings to determine whether the 1963 treaty was violated during their arrests. Medellin was the first among them to die.
President Bush asked states to review the cases, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that neither the president nor the international court can force Texas to wait.
Gov. Rick Perry, Texas courts and the Texas attorney general’s office all said that the execution should go forward and that Medellin had had multiple legal reviews. State officials noted Medellin didn’t invoke his consular rights until four years after he was convicted of capital murder.
Medellin was 3 when he came to the United States, and he grew up in Houston.
His lawyers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution until legislation could be passed to formalize case reviews ordered by the International Court of Justice.
The high court said that possibility was too remote to justify a stay. Four justices dissented. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that to permit the execution would place the U.S. “irremediably in violation of international law and breaks our treaty promises.”
