Guide Note

Jennifer Ertman was a Houston teenager who was murdered in 1993. She and her friend, Elizabeth Pena, were gang raped and strangled to death.¹ Six suspects were eventually convicted, one of them being a Mexican national, Jose Medellin.¹

Fast Facts

1. Born: 1978
2. Died: June 24, 1993
3. Attended: Waltrip High School
4. Buried in Woodlawn Cemetary
5. Age 14 at the time of her passing
6. Jose Medellin confessed to the crime in writing

Medellin confessed to the killings and was sentenced to death. Since he had not been granted assistance from the Mexican consulate, however, the International Court of Justice ordered that his case be reviewed. President Bush then asked that Texas comply. In March 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the state could proceed with the execution.² Medellin is scheduled for lethal injection on August 5, 2008.