Death Row Tuesday

The State of Texas is all set to flush another human turd tonight with the execution of Mexican national Jose Medellin.

In 1993 at age 18, Medellin took part in the hour-long gang rape of two teenage girls, Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena, during which they raped the two orally, vaginally and anally for an entire hour. After that, the gang decided to choke the girls with belts in order to kill them, and did so with such force one of the belts broke around the neck of Jennifer Ertman. Elizabeth Pena was beaten, her front teeth knocked out, and was strangled with her own shoelaces.

It doesn't end there. The gang decided to make sure the two girls were really dead by stomping on their necks until their throats were crushed. They kicked Jennifer Ertman so hard that two of her ribs were broken post-mortem.

This guy deserves the death sentence, and it shouldn't have taken so many years to get the job done.

This is the part that will really, really piss you off. 

All emphasis mine, from this source: 

The International Court of Justice had ruled that Medellin was entitled to a new hearing as he was not told of his right to contact a consular official.

Texas says its courts are not bound by the rulings of the ICJ.

Damn right.

Medellin's case dates back to 1993 when two girls, Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, were raped and murdered by six gang members in Houston.

Medellin, who was born in Mexico but moved to the US as a young child, was convicted of Miss Pena's murder.

Um, you mean to say he was an illegal alien. 

At the time of his arrest, police did not tell him that he could request assistance from the Mexican consulate - in violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

In 2003, Mexico, which does not have the death penalty, filed a lawsuit at the ICJ on behalf of Medellin and 50 other Mexican nationals on death row in the US who 

had also not received consular support.

The court ruled in Mexico's favour, and ordered that their cases be reviewed.

Here's an idea, Mexico. If you don't like us executing YOUR rapists and 

murderers, maybe you should keep them in YOUR country, along with all the other millions of illegals here. Maybe then we might listen to you on the subject.

Texas acknowledged that Medellin had not been told he could ask for help from Mexican diplomats, but argued that he had forfeited the right because he never raised the issue at trial or sentencing.

State officials also argued that it would not have made any difference to the outcome of the case.

That's right. This piece of filth committed capitol crimes against our citizens 

on our soil. Mexican consulates do not dictate Texas law any more than our consulates abroad can dictate to those countries what their legal system can do. 

Earlier this year, President George W Bush ordered Texas to comply with the ICJ ruling, but the Supreme Court justices subsequently decided 6-3 that he had overstepped his authority.

Thank God the SCOTUS ruled the way they did. When did the President forget that our Federalist system prohibits foreign countries from dictating to the States what they can and cannot do.

Where the hell does Bush get off?!? 

Last month, in response to an urgent request from Mexico, the ICJ ordered the US t

o "take all measures necessary" to halt Medellin's execution.

Um, you can just go to hell, ICJ.

But Texas judicial authorities said in response that the law in Medellin's case was "clear".

"Texas is not bound by the World Court but by the US Supreme Court, which reviewed this matter and determined that the convicted murderer's execution shall proceed," a statement from the attorney general's office said.

That's right. We were done with petty tyrants dictating to us what we must do from across the Atlantic in 1776, as I recall. 

On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a request by Medellin and his legal team for a reprieve.

Medellin's legal team are still hoping the Supreme Court will grant a stay of execution that would give Congress time to enact new legislation compelling US states to abide by ICJ decisions.

Excuse me?!? That is just utterly insane! 

As I mentioned in the post title, this is a death row roundup. On to story number two, which will make you think you've fallen into an alternate universe.

From this source, all emphasis mine: 

(UPI) – Attorneys for an Ohio death row prison inmate say Richard Wade Cooey is too fat to be executed constitutionally.

They have filed a lawsuit saying that because Cooey is grossly overweight, his execution by lethal injection, scheduled for Oct. 14, would be difficult and that he would suffer unnecessary pain while the death sentence was carried out, making it unconstitutional, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported Tuesday.

I don't even understand this. How does being fat make you have more pain than normal while being executed? Does this mean that he's too fat for any other medical procedures? 

And really, I don't care if this chunk of human offal is uncomfortable while he's dying. I'll bet his victims 'suffered unnecessary pain' while they died, too. 

And how the hell is a prisoner in our jail being fed SO MUCH that he can become grossly overweight? That's INFURIATING! 

The newspaper said Cooey, 41, is 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighed 275 pounds on May 19, which was the last time he had been on the scales at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown. A spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Nancy Rogers said state officials were considering legal options.

Cooey and an accomplice were convicted of the rapes and bludgeoning slaying of two Akron, Ohio-area women college students in 1986.

You give me this asshole until Oct. 14th, and I guarantee that he'll loose some weight. Nothing but bread and water, and forced marching around a little yard for about 10 hours a day ought to do it... And that's not 'cruel or unusual', either. Hell, you could make the argument that allowing this guy to become obese is what's mean. Let's make sure he gets to meet his Maker in tip-top shape. 

Oh, and one thing this story doesn't mention: He and another inmate attempted to escape in 2005. Niiiice.