A Texas judge blocked an attempt to keep the story of Jocelyn Nungaray’s killing out of the media spotlight as the two Venezuelan migrants accused of murdering her pushed for a gag order on officials and her family.
Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, and Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, who both entered the country illegally at the southern border, are charged with capital murder after they allegedly lured 12-year-old Jocelyn under a bridge in June and assaulted her for two hours before strangling her to death and dumping her bound, stripped body into a Houston bayou.
Jocelyn’s story quickly became the subject of national spotlight amid a slew of high-profile crimes allegedly tied to illegal migrants.
As a result, Peña Ramos’ lawyer demanded a protective order to prevent officials in Houston from making “extrajudicial statements” on the case, according to Fox News, which obtained a copy of the filing.
During a Wednesday hearing, however, Harris County Judge Josh Hill decided against granting the gag order.
“All that we want is a fair trial for our client, we don’t want this process to be politicized, we want a fair jury and we can’t get that with people discussing the case when they don’t have any facts or evidence about it,” Mario Madrid, Martinez Rangel’s attorney, said at the courthouse Wednesday.
In the original gag order request, Peña Ramos’ legal team accused Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg of making “numerous statements about the case that went beyond the statements of the prosecutor during the probable cause hearing,” pointing to pointed to her past statements of “[M]ake no mistake, this is a horrific crime” and “the immigration system is broken,” according to Fox News.
While the case has been the subject of the national media spotlight, her family has been outspoken in calling out the two alleged migrant killers.
Jocelyn’s family visited the southern border in Arizona last month alongside former President Donald Trump.
Jocelyn’s mother, Alexis, also testified at a House Judiciary committee hearing Tuesday, where she called out the migrant “monsters” who allegedly killed her daughter.
“Because of the Biden-Harris administration open border policies, catch and release, they were enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program,” Nungaray said of her daughter’s alleged killers. “This meant that they were released into the United States.”
Jocelyn’s killing also prompted Republican Sen. Ted Cruz to introduce legislation to crack down on the release of illegal immigrants from federal detention.
