WASHINGTON-- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday thatTexas can execute a Mexican murderer being held on its death row. Thecase pitted President Bush against his home state in a dispute overfederal authority, local sovereignty and foreign treaties. The case decided by the Supreme Court on Tuesday pitted President Bush against his home state, Texas. The man at the center of the case, Jose Ernesto Medellin, faces execution for two slayings. At issue was whether the state must give in to demands by the presidentto allow the prisoner new court hearings and sentencing. Bushmade that demand reluctantly, after an international court concludedMedellin was improperly denied access to his consulate before hisoriginal prosecution -- a violation of a treaty signed by the UnitedStates decades ago. The Supreme Court justices voted 6 to 3 in favor of the state's position. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority that theinternational court's ruling "is not domestic law," so Bush's authorityto demand a new hearing for Medellin is limited. Medellin was 18 when he participated in the June 1993 gang rape andmurder of two Harris County, Texas, girls -- 14-year-old JenniferErtman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena. He was later convicted of thecrimes and sentenced to death. |
