Suspected killers of Jocelyn Nungaray face death penalty, says Harris County DA
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss next steps in the case against the suspected killers of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
Prosecutors in Texas are seeking the death penalty for two illegal migrants from Venezuela who are accused of killing 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in June.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, a Democrat, told Fox and Friends on Friday her office is now seeking the death penalty for Franklin Pena, 26, and Johan Martinez-Rangel, 22, who were indicted in September on capital murder charges in connection with Nungaray's murder.
Documents say Pena and Rangel kidnapped Nungaray and caused her death by applying pressure to her neck. The two are also accused of sexually assaulting her before leaving her body under a bridge. Authorities said both suspects entered the United States illegally shortly before the slaying.
Search warrants later revealed the men are possibly members of the bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, left, and Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel have been charged in the killing of Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston, Texas, on Monday, June 17. (Harris County Jail)
"We will be filing notice with the state of Texas that we intend to seek the death penalty against Jocelyn’s murderers," Ogg said.
"We are seeking death because we want the message out there that, regardless of who you are, but especially if you are illegally in this country, that you will face the same consequences as anyone else for murdering a child during the course of raping and kidnapping."
Ogg said she spoke to Nungaray's parents before making the decision to seek the death penalty.
"We base these decisions on the strength of the evidence and the gruesomeness of this crime and yes I've spoken with Alexis Nungaray multiple times along with her father," Ogg said.
"Their family is supportive of this move. We don't make the victims choose, our prosecutors determines what's most likely [to succeed]. But we feel that a Texas jury will sentence these two defendants based on the evidence we have to death."
Jocelyn left her mother's apartment on the evening of June 16 to get a soda at a convenience store, at which point prosecutors say the suspects lured her out of the store and kidnapped her.
Jocelyn Nungaray, 12, was found strangled to death in a Houston creek in June of this year. (Fox Houston courtesy of the Nungaray family)
"In this case, the defendant lured a 12-year-old under a bridge where he and his co-defendant remained with her for over [two] hours, took her pants off, tied her up, and killed her, then threw her body into the bayou," Assistant District Attorney Michael Abner wrote in June.
The gruesome murder shocked the nation with Nungaray’s mother testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee in September about the impact of illegal immigrant crime on U.S. citizens.
Nungaray told the committee that the suspects threw her daughter off the bridge thinking the creek below would wash away their DNA.
"Because of the Biden-Harris administration open border policies, catch and release, they were enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program," Nungaray told lawmakers. "This meant that they were released into the United States. It was not even a full three weeks later that they would take my daughter Jocelyn Nungaray’s life.
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Flowers and a picture of Jocelyn Nungaray (Getty Images)
Ogg on Friday also took a swipe at the porous border under the Biden-Harris administration.
"The Democratic policies of open borders have failed the American public. If the Justice for Jocelyn Act filed by Senator Ted Cruz or any of the policies that President-elect Trump is pushing had been in effect, then it's likely that Jocelyn Nungaray would be alive today. These types of horrific crimes committed by illegal immigrants crossing our border have to stop," Ogg said.
"The family of Jocelyn is in a position they never dreamed would happen to them, and I think it's unfair for anybody with children to be subject to criminals committing horrific crimes that don't have to happen. If these fellows hadn't been in that country, Jocelyn would be alive."
"Crime has no party, let’s get em."
Fox News’ Pilar Arias, Audrey Conklin and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
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