Ted Poe: “I come tonight to talk to you, the House, about the murder of two girls. In 1993, two teenage girls were walking home…”

“I come tonight to talk to you, the House, about the murder of two girls. In 1993, two teenage girls were walking home, making sure they got there in time for the curfew. Their names were Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena. As they were headed home, they took a shortcut through the woods, and that mistake cost them their lives. They came in contact with a person by the name of Jose Medellin, who was the gang leader of a group called the Black and Whites. He, along with his fellow gangsters, kidnapped these two girls and brutalized them, sexually assaulted them, tortured them, and then, when they were through having their way after gang raping them, they murdered them, these two teenage girls, Jennifer Ertman, Elizabeth Pena. The Houston Police Department finally caught up with Jose Medellin and his gangsters. They were all tried lawfully in Texas courts. Jose Medellin received the death penalty, along with one other individual who's already been executed. A third individual's on death row waiting to be executed, and two more are serving life sentences in Texas penitentiaries. Jose Medellin, when he was captured, he had in his possession, Mr. Speaker, a watch. It was a Mickey Mouse watch that Jennifer Ertman wore. And he was proud to carry this token of his murder. He bragged about the murder. He confessed to the murder, and a jury of 12 Texans convicted him and gave him the death penalty, which he earned and which he deserved.”