Jose Medellin is set to be executed tonight in Texas. Jose is a Mexican national who was convicted of raping and murdering two teenage girls in Houston, Texas, 15 years ago. Medellin bragged about having "virgin blood" on him after the rapes and murders. He was aided in these rapes and murders by 5 other gang members. Derrick O'Brien, not a Mexican, has already been executed. The other gang members were under 18 at the time and not eligible for the death penalty. Their victims were Elizabeth Peña, 16, and Jennifer Ertman, 14, lest anyone think we are only doing this because pretty little blond haired, blue eyed, white girls were involved or that Texas only executes Mexicans.

The Mexican government and lawyers for Medellin want an appeal because he was not allowed consular access before his trial. The Texas Attorney General's Office urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeals, saying the execution "fully complies with international law" and noting that the Justices already have ruled that the International Court of Justice's decisions are not U.S. law and not binding on American courts. Barring an 11th hour stay, it looks like we are going to serve justice tonight.

My Mexican immigrant buddy had this to say.

"You know, they are going to kill that Mexican tomorrow night."
"Good.", I said.
"Si. It's good. He should not have done that to those girls. This is not what a good Mexican man or any good man should do to little girls."
Me again, "Right. I hear in Mexico there is no death penalty."
"Oh, no. But this does not mean someone would not have cut off his pelotas and left him for dead."

Good riddance to bad rubbish. Sad to think that this guy has escaped justice for longer than one of his victims was alive...

If he had been convicted in Thailand (as an American), he would have already been hung....

Since he's admitted to his crimes, Aint, and is trying to get out through a technicality, perhaps his pelotas should have been cut off a long time ago.

It's underestandable that his defense attorneys would do everything possible to save him, but in this case I think justice was served by his demise.

The only way this case could be appealed is if it were found that it is illegal to deny a defendant consular access. He may have never even asked for it. It would have to be required by law that all criminal defendendants who are citizens of other countries must be granted a consular visit. I don't know for sure, but I don't think such a law exists.

It's too late now anyway. See ya in hell, champ.

Here is the thing...Medellin was a life long resident of the United States (at least since the time he was 3.) It is highly likely that he never revealed he was a Mexican citizen and led law enforcement to believe he was a US citizen. It was not until three years AFTER his conviction that he raised the issue of his Mexican citizenship. I strongly suspect it was a lawyer working with an anti-capial punishment group that discovered Medellin was a Mexican citizen and had never been afforded consular access. This would make this case an extremely poor case on which to base our discussion of consular access. Clearly, under the Vienna Convention the US has an obligation to ensure consular access for foreign citizens who become entangled with law enforcement. However, only a fool would believe that the Vienna Conventions imposed a burden on the signatories to see through subterfuge by those claiming to be citizens of the country in which arrested and provide them consular access without their having requested it or informed the arresting nation that they were in fact noncitizens.

What do we do in the future? There will be more and more cases similar to Medelllin's... MS 13 Gang members are a brazen bunch of thugs, who future arrests may challenge our system. Consular access for El Salvadorians? Will we deport future immigrant gang members? As it stands, our borders are a revolving door for these monsters... El Salvador contributes to the war effort in Iraq...will this have an impact on our diplomatic relations when deciding if some creep responsible for raping and killing Americans will be given "leniancy"?

Medellin is done and over...but the future remains to be unveiled. What do you think LM?

CG, I think foreign nationals arrested in the United States and identified as such either by their paperwork or by virtue of the fact they claimed that status should be afforded consular access. That is what is required under the Vienna Convention. As I stated before, the Medellin case is a very very poor case upon which to build any precedent. He concealed his status as a Mexican national until long after his conviction and only brought that status to light when it seemed it might provide a grounds to challenge his conviction. He should not be rewarded for that...I am glad to see he was not.

The law is always made because of extremists. Fireworks is a good example. If stupid children didn't blow their fingers off by holding a cherry bomb, or blind their friends by throwing a bottle rocket at them, or burn down their house by lighting a roman candle inside it, there would be no need for anti-fireworks laws.

You get a couple of criminal knuckleheads like Medellin who abuse the system to their own detriment, and before you know it, we'll stuff the Vienna Convention into the same orifice we stuffed the Geneva Convention, and goodbye consular rights for foreign nationals.

I disagree with you, Dax. Let me ask...Should Medellin have been afforded a new trial on the basis that his right to consular access was violated? Even though that right was "violated" because Medellin not only failed to reveal he was a Mexican national and ask for access to his consular officials but Medellin actively portrayed himself as an American citizen?

That's not an easy question to answer, Lawmage.

From an emotional perspective, and my natural instincts that are horrified by his crimes, my immediate answer is that he should not have been afforded a new trial based on the denial of consular access.

However, you can look at it another way. The law is the law. The law is there to protect people. It cannot decide whether the person it is protecting is a good person or a bad person, if that person is a liar, or a cheater, or deceitful about his citizenship. And while it's true that the proecution would not be at fault for Medellin's failure to have consular visitation, if he didn't have it, for any reason at all, it can be argued that he is entitled to another trial.

That being said, there's almost no doubt that he'd be found guilty at the second trial as well, and the sentence would be the same. The question is do we respect the process of the law or don't we?

I am inclined to say we are obligated to respect the law but perhaps that is because I think there is an out that lets me have it both ways...Texas is NOT party to the Vienna Convention, the United States is party to that Convention. Medellin was not "denied" consular access by the United States, he was "denied" consular access by Texas. This is the same distinction the Supreme Court made when it ruled Texas did not have to give Medellin a new trial. While our legal system, with its distinction between the Federal and the State levels of government, may seem foreign to other nations it is our system. They insist we respect their systems when in their countries (something I think we should in fact do) so I think it is reasonable for us to expect the same.

I should take the trouble to point out my issue with Medellin is not the horrific nature of his crimes. I would not care if his crime were something as simple as jay walking. I just do not think he should be rewarded for his deceptions. For instance, if Medellin had pretended to speak no English and instead used a few memorized phrases to convince authorities he spoke German and so had his Miranda rights advisal conducted in German instead of English it would not be appropriate to find his Miranda rights were violated. Similarly, I think given Medellin's complicity in the "denial" of his rights, I think it would be inappropriate to find his rights were atually violated. In amny respects, one could argue he effectively waived his right to consular access by pretending to be an American.

That is what the prosecution would argue.

The defense would ask if there was actual pretense, i.e. did he check "USA" on a form and sign it when asked for citizenship. If so, then indeed, he can be considered to have waived his right to consular access.

If not, if his deception was merely not saying he was a Mexican, it's a different story.

Again, I'm only discussing the law from the viewpoint of a non-lawyer, I'm not suggesting he didn't do what he did, or that he not be punished for it.

I agree that the actual crime is not in question and not the concern of this thread. I think maybe the guy didn't know that by saying he was a Mexican he would have an extra level of protection against a death sentence. However, his attorney should have explored that angle further. The only deception likely would fall to the attorney. I doubt there was any deception in this case at all, just ignorance.

I disagree as to the deception. One does not just jump into gang rape and murder. It is something that follows on a history of law breaking. I am too lazy at the moment to dig into Medellin's legal history but I strongly suspect it is rife with previous encounters with law enforcement. As a noncitizen, Medellin would have been subject to deportation for that litany of criminal offenses. It was therefore in his interest to conceal is Mexican nationality and portray himself has an American. His deception resulted in the horrific death of two young girls, deaths that could have been avoided had he been deported earlier. Again, the nature of his crime is not really the issue here. His deception is the issue. He ought not beneit from it. At least he was deported after death...

Jo, the attorney would have no reason to suspect Medellin was a foreign national, he'd been in this country since age three, so probably spoke good enough English. Looking at his past criminal record, the attorney would make the assumption that he was a US citizen, since he was not deported. So he would really not have a clue that his client was a citizen of Mexico unless Medellin told him so.