OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
4:42 PM – Friday, December 13, 2024
Kim Ogg, the outgoing Democrat district attorney for Harris County, announced that her office will pursue death sentences against the two illegal aliens charged with raping and killing 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
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“We’ll be filing notice by the state of Texas that we intend to seek the death penalty against Jocelyn’s murderers, Peña and Rangel. Both were Venezuelan nationals, they had been captured while committing a crime, coming into this country illegally, and then within days of murdering and raping Jocelyn Nungaray,” Ogg said on Fox News on Friday.
“So 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 her,” she added.
Nungaray was reportedly tortured, raped, strangled, and her body was then thrown in a shallow creek nearby to her home. Her body was found at 6:49 a.m. on June 17th. Police also noted that her “wrists and feet were bound.”
26-year-old Franklin Peña and 22-year-old Johan Martinez Rangel, who police say are members of the violent gang “Tren de Aragua,” were charged with capital murder in June. Peña was wearing an ankle monitor when ICE finally apprehended him, according to the prosecution, and they believe that he cut it or broke it off either before or after the crime.
According to the DA’s office, she will notify Judge Josh Hill’s 232nd District Court on Friday, informing the judge that her office intends to pursue death penalties in this case. Additionally, Peña, Martinez Rangel, and their legal representatives will receive the notice as well.
“Jocelyn’s murder was as vile, brutal and senseless as any case in my tenure as district attorney,” Ogg said in a statement. “And it was made worse by knowing that these two men were here illegally and, had they been held after being captured at the border, they would never have had the opportunity to murder Jocelyn and destroy her family’s future.”
Detectives with the Houston Police Department have stated that they believe Nungaray left her family’s apartment at around 10 p.m. the night before her body was discovered in the creek.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) verified that the two men had entered the country illegally near El Paso without being inspected. The two were then “granted parole or admitted by immigration officials.”
Since her 12-year-old daughter’s tragic murder, Jocelyn Nungaray’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, has been a staunch supporter of a closed border, frequently siding with Republican leaders like President-elect Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas). The young mother also expressed anger and disbelief that neither Biden nor Kamala Harris ever reached out to her after the murder made national news headlines.
“Kamala Harris has never reached out to me, just even as a human, to give her condolences as a humane person running this country,” Nungaray said. “I think it’s very sad that she can’t even just give me an open apology, sincere apology,” the mother continued.
“She [Jocelyn] was a preteen, months away from becoming a teenager, out doing what teenagers do. Going to the corner store to get a soda, she was being preyed on by two illegal Venezuelan immigrants. They saw an innocent young girl and made her a target for their horrendous actions,” the mother wrote on September 10th in a testimony to the House of Representatives Committee.
Nungaray also told the press that Trump reached out to her the day after her daughter’s funeral, expressing his deepest sympathy.
“Alexis, it’s Donald Trump, and I’m just calling to give my warmest regards to you and your family, it’s so horrible what happened and I’ll call you later,” Trump said in his voicemail. “But, you just do the best you can. It’s a horrible thing. This should have never happened. The whole world loves you and they love that beautiful beautiful daughter of yours so… I can’t express what’s going on in this country, so you just take care of yourself and I’ll speak to you later, and all of Jocelyn’s friends and family, give them my warmest regards. Just take care. Thank you.”
By the end of this year, DA Ogg will have served her second and last term as district attorney. One of her former prosecutors, Sean Teare, who defeated Ogg in the Democrat primary in March and defeated Republican Dan Simons in the general election in November, will succeed her.
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