Legal News

Death penalty upheld for killer of 2 children at Irving home

By (Click The Law)

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday upheld the death sentence of a man from El Salvador convicted of killing his two small children at their home in Irving four years ago.

The court rejected what attorneys for Hector Medina contended were 53 errors in his 2008 trial in Dallas.

Medina, 31, was condemned to death for the slayings of his 3-year-old son, Javier, and 8-month-old daughter, Diana, in March 2007.

The children's mother had broken up with Medina and had asked for a protective order against him. She accused him of abuse and acknowledged at his trial that she had been having an affair with another man, one of four renters living in the house with them.

On the day of the shooting, the mother was out running errands while the children were at home with the boarders. They said they heard three or four loud sounds that later were identified as gunshots and then saw Medina walk outside and shoot himself in the head and neck. He survived.

In the appeal, lawyers argued that there were errors in jury selection, that Medina's legal defense was deficient because no mitigating witnesses were called, and that Medina was denied due process because of scheduling decisions by the trial judge. Attorneys also challenged evidence.

Full post as published by Click the Law on January 13, 2011 (boomark / email).