BREAKING: Texas prosecutors seek death penalty in Jocelyn Nungaray murder case

The legal team prosecuting the illegal immigrants from Venezuela accused of raping and killing 12-year-old Texas resident Jocelyn Nungaray in June is seeking the death penalty for the suspects. 

The two illegal immigrants, Johan Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Pena, 26, were charged with capital murder in September for the killing and court documents said that they allegedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and killed her by strangulation before her body was left under a bridge in Texas. 



Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters that she will be seeking the death penalty for both Pena and Martinez-Rangel, according to Fox News. 

"We will be filing notice with the state of Texas that we intend to seek the death penalty against Jocelyn’s murderers," Ogg told the outlet.  "We are seeking death because we want the message out there that, regardless of who you are, but especially if you are illegally in this country, that you will face the same consequences as anyone else for murdering a child during the course of raping and kidnapping."

The prosecutor consulted with Nungaray’s parents before making the decision to seek the death penalty in the case. Ogg added, "We base these decisions on the strength of the evidence and the gruesomeness of this crime and yes I've spoken with Alexis Nungaray multiple times along with her father.” 

"Their family is supportive of this move. We don't make the victims choose, our prosecutors determines what's most likely [to succeed]. But we feel that a Texas jury will sentence these two defendants based on the evidence we have to death,” she continued.  

Nungaray’s case has been one of the more high-profile crimes allegedly involving illegal immigrants, along with the murder of Laken Riley. Jocelyn left her mother’s apartment to go to a convenience store where she was allegedly kidnapped.  

"In this case, the defendant lured a 12-year-old under a bridge where he and his co-defendant remained with her for over [two] hours, took her pants off, tied her up, and killed her, then threw her body into the bayou," prosecutors wrote in June.