Gang members sent to
death row for murder
HOUSTON (AP) — What was
intended to be a night of a rou
tine gang initiation in a field
beside a Texas bayou took a
ghastly twist when two teen-age
girls wandered too near the
young toughs.
Both were raped, viciously
beaten, then strangled with shoe
laces and a belt
1-ast woek. just 15 months after
the crime, three of the youths
were convicted of capital mur
der. joining two fellow gang
members — none yet 20 years old
— on the path to Texas' crowd
ed death row
All five await death by lethal
injection, punishment meted out
by a citizenry "fed up with the
expense of crime, the fear of
crime, the devastation of crime
and just the senseless nature of
it,” said Billy Bramlett, a juvenile
delinquency export and profes
sor at Sam Houston State Uni
versity.
Corrections experts say they
can't recall a similar case where
so many people have been con
demned to death for a single
crime.
Peter Anthony Cantu and Der
rick Sean O’Brien, both 19, were
convicted earlier this year Uist
week, in separate trials, jurors
convicted Efrain Perez, 18, Kind
Villarreal, 18. and Joe Medillin.
19, increasing the number of
inmates in the nation's most pop
ulous death row to almost 400
inmates.
A sixth member of their loose
knit ‘‘Black and White” gang, a
juvenile ineligible for the death
penalty under Texas law, was
convicted and sentenced to 40
years in prison.
On the evening of June 24,
1993, gang members gathered
along a railroad trestle over a bay
ou to drink and initiate Villarreal
by making him fight each of the
other gang members
About 11:30 p m . shortly after
the fighting stopped. Jennifer Krt
man. 14. and Elizabeth Pena. 16,
took a short cut through the field,
trying to get home from a parly
by their curfews
Their path took them past the
gang, who grabbed the girls and
took turns raping them before
beating them, strangling them
and stomping on their necks. The
girls battered bodies were found
tour days later
When one youth was arrested,
he snarled obscenities at camera
crews and tried to kick reporters
as polii e hauled him away Tes
timony at the trials showed they
divided S40 and some jewelry
taken from the girls, then bragged
about what they did
"I think they are more or less
oblivious," said Robert Lineber
ry. an urban crime historian at
the University of Houston. "From
their point of view, life is of lit
tle value."
The ages of new death row
inmates in Texas are getting
younger and younger, officials
say.
Of the 393 inmates on death
row last week. 12 committed
murder at age 17. 21 at age 1H,
and 30 at age 19.
Among all felonies nation
wide. statistics show the most
common age of arrest is 16,
Lineberry said. The sis ond most
common: 15.
"The composition of crime is
changing." he said. "You've got
11-year-old kids or 14-yeor-old
kids committing crimes that wo
would hove thought were only
done by deranged adults."
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SIMPSON
Continued from Page 12B
"It's Iru* that for many of the
people, this will bo more inter
esting than anything else hap
pening in their lives," l.evenson
said "But reality sets in.
If the judge decides he must
sequester the |urv to shield them
from publicity, that would fur
ther limit the pool of available
jurors Many will not want to
leave family and friends for the
isolation of a hotel where thoir
communications are monitored
and visits are supervised by
bailiffs
More recently, jurors in the
Reginald Denny riot-beating tri
al reported disputes while they
were sequestered One alarmed
her colleagues when she ran
down a hotel corridor screaming
"I can't take it anymore!" and
demanding to see her boyfriend.
The ultimate question is
w hether 12 furors and eight alter
nates can got along with each oth
er in close quarters and whether
sequestration itself can affec t
their decision.
The makeup of the jury proba
bly will not Ice known for at least
a month as jury questioning is
likely to !>e long and tedious.
And the public;, used to watch
ing every phase of this trial on
television, is in for a period of
withdrawal. On the judge's
orders, jury selection won't be
televised.
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