7 Mexican-born Texas death row inmates lose appeals

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear the appeals of seven Mexican-born prisoners condemned to die in Texas, including two who had committed murders in Houston in the 1990s.

The action followed a high court ruling last week in which the justices rebuffed President Bush for directing the state of Texas to abide by a world court ruling and rehear the case of another Mexican on death row.

That prisoner, Jose Medellin, had been convicted of the 1993 rape-murders of two Houston teenagers — Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16 — who had stumbled upon a gang initiation.

Mexico, which opposes the death penalty, sued the United States in the International Court of Justice in the Hague on behalf of some 50 Mexican citizens, including Medellin, on death rows in the United States.

Mexico said American officials violated the 1963 Vienna Convention. when they failed to allow the citizens of another country access to its representatives after arrest. The world court agreed.

But in a 6-3 ruling March 25, the U.S. Supreme Court said the president overstepped his bounds when he ordered states in a memo to abide by the world court's ruling. The high court said a president must consult Congress before issuing an order based on a treaty.

The court did not comment Monday when it declined to hear the appeals by the seven men. But their execution dates were not expected to be set until the court rules on another death penalty issue: whether lethal injection is constitutional.

Jordan Steiker, who co-directs the Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas Law School, said it was not unusual for the justices to resolve the overarching legal issues based on one case and then apply it to others in similar situations.

"These cases were already in the pipeline," he said.

Steiker and others, including state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, warned that the court's decisions regarding the Mexican inmates could undermine the rights of American citizens traveling abroad.

"Showing regard for the foreign nationals in the United States under our treaty obligations serves to protect American citizens by ensuring that any detention is followed by contact with a local United States consulate so that legal assistance and other moral support can be provided," said Ellis, who sits on the state Senate criminal justice committee. "The Supreme Court's decision makes those kinds of assurances harder to establish."

A spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry praised Monday's action by the high court.

"Foreign courts have no jurisdiction in Texas," said Krista Piferrer. "The governor believes that justice has been and will be served for these individuals who committed atrocious crimes."

Among the seven Mexican-born inmates who lost appeals Monday are 31-year-old Felix Rocha, who was convicted of shooting a security guard in a Houston apartment complex in 1994, and 42-year-old Virgilio Maldonado, who was convicted of shooting a man three times in the back of the head during a 1995 Houston drug robbery.

The others are:

• Ignacio Gomez, 38, convicted of shooting three teenage boys and burying them in desert sand dunes outside El Paso in 1996.

• Humberto Leal, 35, convicted of abducting a San Antonio female, raping her and crushing her head with a 35-pound chunk of asphalt in 1994.

• Ruben Cardenas, 37, convicted of raping and strangling a teenager in Hidalgo County in 1997.

• Robert Ramos, 53, convicted of killing of his wife and two children at their home in Progreso in 1992, then burying them beneath the bathroom floor.

• Cesar Fierro, 51, who was convicted of robbing and killing an El Paso taxi driver in 1979.

Fourteen Mexican citizens are awaiting execution in Texas, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

As of late February, 122 foreign nationals were on death row throughout the United States, according to the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, a non-profit organization that monitors capital punishment issues.

Jennifer Latson in Houston and Peggy Fikac in Austin contributed reporting to this article.

bennett.roth@chron.com