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The Crime
At
approximately 2:30 am
on January 1, 1996
a passenger in a dark coloured 4-door car opened fire with a AK-47 rifle
into a group of people partying in front of a house on Campden Hill in
South West Houston. Nine year old David Rodriguez and his sister fifteen
year old Diane Rodriguez died. On
Dominic
Holmes At
Tony’s trial, Mr Holmes admitted a being passenger in the car as the
drive-by shooting occurred But
he said that Tony was the shooter. Evidence indicated that Tony Medina
never left the party where he was with friends and therefore was not in
the car. The state withheld critical evidence. This proof would have shown that Mr Holmes had a motive to lie and would have destroyed his credibility. On
Tony Medina had been in trouble before; in fact Tony had just spent over 11 months incarcerated for a previous crime. Tony Medina had plead guilty to and accepted responsibility for his actions and received probation… it was because of this, along with his former affiliation with a gang, that caused the Houston Police to target him. Tony
Medina took the stand in his own defense. He testified that he had not
been associating with the gang for some time, yet because he wanted to
celebrate New Years and car problems prevented him for using his or his
sister`s car, he decided to celebrate and ride to some parties with
friends who were still active in the gang and his cousin Alex. Tony told
the jury that after buying beer and picking up another friend just a
little after midnight he returned to his friend Canderlario`s party
stayed until 3 am and that his cousin was with him at all times. He
stated that he remained behind with his cousin and several friends at
the party when Moore and Holmes drove off a little after There was a simple test to determine the approximate ejection pattern of the spent casings from the murder weapon that could have EASILY proved the state`s 3 main witnesses; Moore, Holmes and Valdez were lying. The state’s firearm examiner, Robert Baldwin, who has been at the centre of Houston’s police lab scandal for the gross negligence of his work, agreed to do the test, but the D.A. objected to having the gun missing during one days worth of testimony and the judge refused to order the test done. Instead he said Mr. Baldwin would have to do the test on his own and that would have to be over the weekend. But for a reason never explained to Tony, his trial attorneys dropped the matter, despite the tests ability to show that the crime could NOT HAVE HAPPENED as the state`s witnesses claim it did.
On
Despite
all of the help the state had from Tony`s lawyers not doing their jobs,
it still took the jury over 13 hours to make a decision. On August 1, 1996, with his parents standing less then 10 feet away, Tony Medina was
sentenced to die by lethal injection for a crime he did not commit.
The
state alleges there were 7 people in the car when the crime occurred.
Three people testified they were in the car at the time of the drive-by
shooting. James Moore
identified himself as the owner and driver of the vehicle, while his
cousin Dominic Holmes
and Holme`s best friend Johnny
Valdez were passengers. All 3 testified they did not know the
drive-by was going to happen and that Tony Medina committed the
crime…. THIS IS ALL THEY AGREED ON. The
states whole case against Tony rested on these alleged witnesses.
For
example, Mr. Moore claims that he had no knowledge that gun was even in
his car, even though the rifle was close to 45 inches long. Yet, Valdez
testified that Moore stopped the car around the corner from the house
the drive by occurred at so that Tony could retrieve the gun from Mr.
Moore`s trunk and switch seats, into the front. While Holmes stated that
Tony Medina was ALWAYS in the front seat with the gun in his possession. The
states other star witness was Leon Guy… Mr. Guy was in the neighbour's drive way when the
crime took place. He gave a statement at the time saying that he
witnessed a white or mexican hand holding a gun out the window of a dark
colored 4-door car. He testified that he could not remember other facts
too well because he was “DEAD DRUNK”. The fact is Mr. Guy said at
Tony Medina`s trial that he was only positive about four things.
Regina Juarez testified for the state that Tony Medina returned to the party and told her that he had done the shooting. From the statements of the innocence-witnesses - who did not testify in court - it becomes apparent later that Juarez and Holmes had agreed to blame the crime on Tony Medina. The
Witnesses of the Defense The
defense put on two witnesses: Domingo Valle and Rene
Reyna, who testified that Dominic Holmes had confessed to
committing the drive-by-shooting. Alex
Perez told the jury that Tony Medina hadn´t left the party with Holmes and
Evidence
of Tony Medina`s innocence These are the Testimonies of witnesses that could have proved Tony Medina`s innocence, but were heard at trial because the D.A. withheld critical evidence and Tony’s Defence Attorney was incompetent. Mr.
Nacoste On
Mr.
McNickles and Ms. Hamilton Mr. McNickles lived in the neighbourhood only a few blocks away from the house where the shooting happened. On New Year's Eve he was talking on the phone to a friend when he saw 2 black males driving a dark colored 4-door car in front of his home, with the black male in the passenger seat shooting a rifle into the air. Mr. McNickles statements are supported by his friend Ms. Hamilton. Ms. Hamilton recalls that as she spoke to Mr. McNickles on the phone on New Year's Eve, she heard the sound of gunfire and asked him what happened. Ms. Hamilton remembers him telling her that "two niggers in a dark car" were shooting a rifle in the air. Despite the importance of what Mr. Mcnickles and Ms. Hamilton witnessed, the jury was never to hear their testimony. No defense investigator or lawyer ever went out to the area where the shooting occurred to knock on doors and ask if anyone had information that could help Tony’s case. Mr.
Crawford Mr.
Crawford lived in the same neighbourhood as James Moore and went to high
school with Mr. Holmes. Mr. Crawford knew how mad Mr. Holmes was over
the killing of his friend and fellow gang member, and recalls Mr. Holmes frequently talking about wanting to "do something"
to
members of the rival gang that were responsible. Shortly after
New Year's Eve, Mr. Crawford was at Mr Moore's sister's apartment when
Mr. Holmes brought a "long rifle wrapped in a towel", and
recalls Mr. Moore being concerned about having the gun around him
because he was still on parole. Mr. Crawford, like Mr. Nacoste, Mr.
McNickles, and Ms. Hamilton, was never contacted by Tony`s lawyers or
investigators prior to trial. Mr.
Villanueva Mr.Villanueva
was a fellow gang member of Mr.Holmes. In early January 1996 while
talking to a common friend on the phone he was told that some guys in
LRZ, LARAZA 13, had done a drive-by. During the same conversation he was
able to talk to Mr. Holmes who was at the friends house. Mr.
Holmes bragged to him about committing the murders, starting “that
shit was cool”. Mr. Villanueva could have provided a direct link
between Mr. Holmes and the drive-by, but because of Tony`s lawyers, his
information was never heard by the jury. Mr.
Becerra Mr.
Becerra, who was a leader in the LRZ gang also had information about
Tony`s case, but was never contacted by the defense. Mr. Becerra
remembers Mr. Holmes expressing interest in earning his
"stripes" and also trying to get his cousin Mr. Moore involved
in LRZ. While Tony was incarcerated in 1995, Mr.Becerra recalls Mr.
Holmes was trying to take control of Tony`s "branch" of the
gang and making it clear he wanted to replace Tony in the gang, since
Tony announced he was "stepping down" and leaving the gang
life. Mr.Becerra was out of town on New Year's Eve but returned to Houston
on All these testimonies were filed by Tony Medina`s Lawyers in Tony´s Habeas Corpus appeal in November 2001. As for right now Tony Medina has not got an answer whether he will get a new trial and if this time all the evidence will be heard.
If you would like to help please contact Diana Srowig and Simone Oberenzer at: anthonymedina@alive-gegen-todesstrafe.de Webpage: www.tonymedina.de Or:
Tony Medina #999204 Donations can be made to: Deutsche Bank Bocholt
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