Houston prosecutor seeks death penalty for two Venezuelans charged with murdering 12-year-old girl

Following through on a pledge she made months ago, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg on Friday announced her office was seeking the death penalty in the prosecution of two illegal foreign nationals from Venezuela now charged with the capital murder of a 12-year-old Houston girl.

On June 17, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray’s body was found in a bayou under a bridge in north Houston. The cause of death was strangulation but her body was found bound, without clothing from the waist down. Forensic evidence was collected to ascertain if she was sexually assaulted. According to the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, the perpetrators threw her body into the bayou to get rid of DNA evidence, The Center Square reported.

At the time, Ogg said strangulation didn’t carry the death penalty sentence but if forensic evidence came back to “support a charge of sexual assault or should other evidence brought forward that supports the charge of kidnapping, both underlying offenses would make this capital murder and these individuals death penalty eligible,” Ogg said.

Ogg this week confirmed the evidence proved Nungaray was sexually assaulted, amended the charges to capital murder and is now seeking the death penalty against Venezuelans Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena.

A formal notice was filed with both defendants and their attorneys and with Judge Josh Hill’s 232nd District Court of the intent to seek the death penalty.

“Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Pena, 26, are each charged with capital murder and are being held in the Harris County Jail. According to the charges, the two men kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled the girl before leaving her partially nude body in shallow water below a bridge in the 400 block of West Rankin Road,” Ogg’s announcement states.

Ogg also notes that the Venezuelans illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico and were detained and released by Border Patrol agents. At least one was still wearing an ankle monitor at the time of his arrest.

“Jocelyn’s murder was as vile, brutal and senseless as any case in my tenure as district attorney,” Ogg said. “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.”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican from Houston who leads the Senate, has said he will prioritize two legislative reforms next year. One includes bail reform and a constitutional amendment requiring bail to be denied to all accused of capital murder. The other is to amend state law to make the murder of any child under age 15 a death penalty eligible offense. Currently, the age specification in the bill is 10 years-old and younger.

Ogg made the announcement after another Houston girl was allegedly killed by another Venezuelan man in the country illegally, The Center Square reported.

Under the Biden administration, more than 1 million illegal border crossers from Venezuela have been reported, The Center Square exclusively reported, and a violent Venezuelan gang expanded in major cities in Texas resulting in a multi-agency operation to target them.