Execution Plans Affirmed in Texas
07/19/2008
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It looks like all systems are go for the lethal injection death August 5 of Jose Medellin, the illegal alien who brutally raped and murdered teenagers Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena in 1993 as part of a gang initiation. One of the other killers was executed in July 2006, and the families are more than ready to see Medellin dispatched after these many years awaiting justice.

Keep in mind that President Bush took the side of the killer, that he should not have been executed because Jose Medellin was not informed during his arrest of the right to contact the Mexican Embassy: Bush Crushes Justice for Victim Families.

So it was a relief in March when the Supreme Court overruled the one worlders and reaffirmed American sovereignty. A last minute appeal from the World Court didn't make a dent after the Supremes had laid down American law.

Texas will go ahead with the scheduled Aug. 5 execution of Houston rapist-killer Jose Medellin despite Wednesday's United Nations world court order for a stay, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry said.

The U.N.'s International Court of Justice's call for stays in the cases of Medellin and four other Mexican nationals awaiting execution in Texas came in response to a petition filed last month by the Mexican government.

The petition sought to halt executions to allow for review of the killers' cases to determine whether denying them access to the Mexican Consulate after arrest impaired their trial defenses. [...]

Meanwhile, Randy Ertman, father of Jennifer Ertman, hotly denounced the world court's order for stays.

"The world court don't mean diddly," he said. "This business belongs in the state of Texas. The people of the state of Texas support the execution. We thank them. The rest of them can go to hell."

Adolfo Pe?±a, father of Elizabeth Pe?±a, agreed.

"I believe we've been through all the red tape we can go through," he said. "It's time to rock and roll." [Execution of Houston girls' killer still on track for Aug. 5, Houston Chronicle, July 17, 2008]

Below, murder victims Jennifer Ertman (14) and Elizabeth Pena (16).

In other crime news, more than 3,000 illegal aliens are serving time for murder in California prisons: Special Report: Prisons Crowded with Illegal Inmates (KTLA Los Angeles, July 18, 2008).

The numbers can look staggering. Nearly 20,000 inmates in California's state prison system have ICE holds on them, meaning there's a good chance they're illegal immigrants. More than 3,000 of those inmates are serving time for murder.

Because many of those convicts likely spent time in and out of local jails before committing the crimes that landed them in state prison, federal officials have begun working with more city and county jails to try to identify and deport more illegal immigrants earlier in their criminal careers.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's employees started working with ICE agents in 2006. Now, every week, county employees interview more than 100 inmates to try to determine their immigration status. The county employees have access to federal computers, including a fingerprint database that can match inmate fingerprints to see if the inmate has ever been deported.

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