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Prosecutors seek death penalty for suspects in Jocelyn Nungaray murder case
FOX 26's Jonathan Mejia reports on prosecutors have announced their intention to seek the death penalty against Franklin Pena and Johan Martinez-Rangel, accused of the brutal murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray. Jocelyn's mother, Alexis Nungaray, supports the decision, seeing it as a justified response to the heinous crime.
HOUSTON - Prosecutors have announced they will seek the death penalty against Franklin Pena and Johan Martinez-Rangel, suspects in the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray.
Alexis Nungaray, Jocelyn's mother, expressed the difficulty of the decision but believes it is justified. "If I’m being completely honest, it’s a mixture of both. I want them to forever live in prison miserably, tormentedly, but I also do want death for them because they took [the life] from my child, and she’s no longer here anymore," she said.
Nungaray described the decision to seek the death penalty as a significant responsibility and a heavy burden. "After doing some thinking on it, I do think it fits the crime. It’s an eye for an eye, and if they did not want to be eligible for the death penalty, they should’ve never done what they did and to who they did it to," she added.
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The accused, Franklin Pena and Johan Martinez-Rangel, are illegal migrants from Venezuela. District Attorney Kim Ogg stated, "We are seeking death because we want the message out there that, regardless of who you are, but especially if you’re illegally in this country, you will face the same consequences as anyone else for murdering a child during the course of raping and kidnapping her."
The decision to pursue the death penalty has provided some solace for Alexis Nungaray as she faces her first holiday season without her daughter. "I really always wonder and do the what-ifs, what she could’ve been, and it does make me sad to know that I was ripped away from those opportunities of seeing her. But I just try to hold onto her memory and all the good times I’ve had with her and of her and try to appreciate them through the last child I have," she reflected.
In a post on X, Governor Greg Abbott posted: "If you are a gang member from Venezuela and come to Texas and murder someone, we will sentence you to death. Just stay out of Texas."
"I fully agree and support it. I’m not saying all Venezuelans are bad. There’s all kinds of good and bad people. I find it not a coincidence that a lot of the suspects of a lot of cases here in Houston are from Venezuela, and it’s just given them a bad name," Nungaray said.
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Alexis said she doesn't want her daughter's name to be forgotten. Since the election ended, she has had plenty of time and space to live in what she said was her new normal and to fully grieve her daughter's death.
"I’ve had my moments where I can break down and I can cry. It hurts my heart a lot harder than it would another time but I’ve shaken it off a lot because I got to put this brave face on and be courageous and do what other people in my position cannot do," Nungaray said.
Franklin Pena and Johan Martinez-Rangel's court date is set for February.