José Medellín
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José Ernesto Medellín, born March 4, 1975 in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, is a Mexican national currently on the Texas death row in the United States. Medellin was convicted of the raping and killing 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena and 15-year-old Jennifer Ertman in June, 1993. [1] His case has since gained notoriety as Mexico sued the United states in the International Court of Justice and on behalf of 51 Mexican nationals asserting that, in these cases, the US had violated the Vienna Convention, to which it is signatory, which requires that local authorities inform foreign nationals being held on criminal charges of the right to consult with their country’s diplomats. That court ruled that the United States was obliged to have the defendants’ cases reopened and reconsidered. The Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear the case on May 1, 2007. [2] On March 25, 2008, the US Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's arguments and cleared the way for Texas to execute his sentence. [1]
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[edit] Case history
In International Court of Justice, Mexico sued the United States on behalf of its citizens who had been sentenced to death without having their national consulate notified. The court ruled that the United States acted in error and required that the defendants’ cases be reopened.
Initially, the US government described Mexico’s suit as “an unjustified, unwise and ultimately unacceptable intrusion in the United States criminal justice system.” Reversing that position in early 2005, with Mr. Medellín’s death-penalty appeal pending before the Supreme Court, the White House announced that it would abide by the decision by instructing the states to reconsider the convictions and sentences of the Mexican nationals on death row. The Supreme Court then dismissed Mr. Medellín’s case to enable the Texas courts to comply with that directive.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to change their rules barring reconsideration of such cases. In that decision, one of the court’s judges accused the White House of an “unprecedented, unnecessary and intrusive exercise of power over the Texas court system”. In response, the Bush administration entered the case on Mr. Medellín’s behalf and urged the Supreme Court to overturn the Texas court’s decision. The case, Medellín v. Texas, No. 06-984, will be argued in fall 2008. The US government’s brief, filed by Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, told the justices that the Texas court’s decision, if not reversed, “will place the United States in breach of its international law obligation” to comply with the World Court’s decision and would “frustrate the president’s judgment that foreign policy interests are best served by giving effect to that decision.”
[edit] Execution Date
Jose Medellin execution date has been set for August 05, 2008[2]
