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An Irving father sentenced to death for the revenge killing of his children after their mother left him has been granted a new punishment trial.
Hector Rolando Medina, 38, shot 3-year-old Javier and 8-month-old Diana in the head and the neck after his girlfriend left him in March 2007. He then shot himself in the neck outside his Irving home.
Medina was convicted of capital murder in 2008 and sent to death row, after defense attorney Donna Winfield didn't call a single witness or present closing arguments during the punishment phase of the trial.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling that Medina should be granted a new punishment trial because of his defense attorney's "deficient performance."
The Dallas County district attorney's office will decide whether to again seek the death penalty against Medina. The automatic sentence for capital murder in Texas is life without the possibility of parole.
"These cases are very expensive and very time-consuming," said First Assistant District Attorney Michael Snipes. "Those two factors have to be taken into consideration, not only in this case but in every case where a defendant is death penalty-eligible."
The district attorney's office is seeking the death penalty against Antonio Cochran, who is accused of kidnapping and killing 18-year-old Zoe Hastings in 2015.
Justice Michael Keasler wrote in a concurring opinion that granting Medina a new punishment trial gives the convicted child killer "a 2nd bite at the apple."
Keasler expressed "profound disgust" at Winfield's handling of the punishment phase of the trial, saying that the attorney "intentionally torpedoed" the case.
There was a six-week break after Medina was convicted before the punishment phase began. Winfield asked for more time to bring expert witnesses to the courthouse, but the judge denied the request.
In response, Winfield refused to call any witnesses or rest her case during punishment. She was thrown in jail for being in contempt of court.
During a hearing requesting a new trial after Medina was sentenced, Winfield said, "I wasn't going to put on a disjointed defense of Mr. Medina. ... That wasn't fair to him or to the jury."
Justice Sharon Keller wrote in a dissenting opinion that Medina's defense attorney had "fully participated in the state's punishment case, including cross-examining witnesses."
Prosecutors say Medina killed his children as revenge after his longtime girlfriend left him.
Elia Martinez-Bermudez testified that Medina would hold her down and force her to have sex with him. He begged her to come back after she left him in January 2007. When she did, he threatened to kill her, the children and himself if she ever left him again.
In March 2007, Medina borrowed a friend's gun and a box of bullets and then refused to let Martinez-Bermudez see her children when she asked. Later that day, he shot Javier and Diana and then himself.
Diana "had a tombstone before she could talk," prosecutor Felicia Oliphant said during the trial. "Is there anything sadder than that?"
Source: Dallas Morning News, October 5, 2017
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
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