A family's right to speak about their daughter's horrific death was recently preserved after her very preventable death put them in an impossible situation.
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, as The Houston Chronicle reported.
Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, age 26, and Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, age 21, who both entered the country illegally at the southern border, have been charged with capital murder. This death and others have been seen as a direct result of the current administration's open border policy.
The charges stem from the fact that they allegedly lured Jocelyn, a 12-year-old girl, under a bridge in June and assaulted her for two hours before strangling her to death and dumping her bound and stripped body through a bayou in Houston.
In the midst of a series of high-profile crimes purportedly associated with illegal migrants, Jocelyn's story rapidly garnered national attention.
Consequently, Peña Ramos' attorney requested a protective order to prevent Houston officials from making "extrajudicial statements" regarding the case, as reported by Fox News, which obtained a copy of the filing.
However, Harris County Judge Josh Hill declined to issue the silence order during a hearing on Wednesday.
“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.
According to Fox News, Peña Ramos' legal team made a request for a gag order, in which they 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."
They referred to her previous statements, which included statements such as "[M]ake no mistake, this is a horrific crime" and "the immigration system is broken."
In spite of the fact that the case has been the focus of attention from the national media, her family has been vocal in their condemnation of the two individuals who are suspected of killing migrants.
Last month, former President Donald Trump and Jocelyn's family visited the southern border in Arizona.
Alexis, Jocelyn's mother, also testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing where she denounced the migrant "monsters" who allegedly murdered 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.”
Republican Senator Ted Cruz was also motivated by Jocelyn's death to introduce legislation that would restrict the release of illegal immigrants from federal detention.
