Convicted killer of teenage Houston girls set to die
(7/10/06 - HUNTSVILLE, TX) - Even 13 years later, Melissa Pena says the memory of the torture and murder of her daughter remains raw.
"It never ends," Pena said of the killing of 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena by members of a Houston street gang. "We live with it every day. Our friends will say: 'I don't want to bring it up.' Like the elephant in the room, you can pretend like it's not, but it's always there."
Derrick Sean O'Brien, one of six gang members convicted of the June 1993 slayings of Elizabeth Pena and her 14-year-old friend, Jennifer Ertman, faced lethal injection Tuesday. He'd be the 14th prisoner executed this year in the nation's busiest capital punishment state.
The parents of both girls planned to attend the execution. The parents were instrumental in changing Texas prison procedures so relatives of victims can witness executions through a death chamber window.
"There's got to be a little bit of that window for me, because, by God, I'm going to be looking," Randy Ertman said. "And I want him to be looking me right in the eyes as he's dying."
O'Brien, 31, was spared a trip to the death house May 15 when his lawyers won a reprieve from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals the day before he was to be executed. Days later, however, the same court rescinded its order, clearing the way for Tuesday's execution.
"You don't know what's going to happen," Pena said. "We think it's finally going to move along and come to a close and they pull something out of the hat. ... It is very frustrating."
O'Brien would be the first of three men on death row for the slayings to be executed. Of the six gang members convicted, O'Brien and four others were given death sentences. Two of the death sentences were commuted to life, and another is being reviewed.
Lawyers for O'Brien have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution so justices could review his case. They argue there's no legal procedure allowing condemned Texas prisoners to raise challenges that drugs used in lethal injections could cause unconstitutional pain.
"O'Brien has no right to avoid execution, but he does have a right not to suffer cruel and unusual punishment," the petition filed last week to the high court said.
The justices last month rejected another request for review of O'Brien's case.
O'Brien, who was 18 at the time of the slayings, declined to speak with reporters.
The two girls, returning from a friend's house, took a shortcut home along some railroad tracks and stumbled on a group of teenagers drinking beer after initiating a new gang member.
Evidence showed the girls were gang raped for more than an hour, then were kicked and beaten before being strangled. A red nylon belt was pulled so tight around Ertman's neck that the belt snapped.
Four days later, the girls' bodies were found, decomposing and mummifying in 100-degree heat, culminating a frantic search by families and police under the glare of intense media coverage. A tip from the brother of one of the gang members led police to arrest O'Brien and the others for killings that shocked even crime-hardened Houston for the brutality.
Two of the gang members, Efrain Perez and Raul Villarreal, had their death sentences commuted to life in prison when the Supreme Court last year barred executions for those who were 17 at the time of their crimes.
A third man condemned, Jose Medellin, who O'Brien said was at one end of the belt being pulled around Ertman's neck as he yanked on the other, had his case returned to the state courts under an order from President Bush.
Medellin is among some 50 Mexican-born offenders who argue that under international law they should have been allowed assistance from the Mexican Consulate before trial.
Peter Cantu, described by authorities as ringleader of the gang, remains on death row without an execution date.
A sixth person convicted, Medellin's brother, Vernancio, was 14 at the time and received a 40-year prison term.
Two more Texas inmates are scheduled to die next week.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
What got me about this dude was he had a stay of execution because he wanted his case reviewed because he thought execution by lethal injection would cause "unconstitutional pain". OH Im sorry but what about the pain you caused when you strangled Jennifer Ertman so hard with a nylon belt it snapped in half. He got exactly what he deserved and so do the other low-lives involved in this brutal killings. I remember it very clearly and my heart goes out to the families.
Convicted killer executed
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