Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick vows to offer ‘Jocelyn’s Law’ after 12-year-old girl’s alleged killers granted $10 million bail

AP Photo/Eric Gay

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said the Texas Senate would work to pass bail reform legislation, named after 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, that would effectively deny bail to capital murder suspects.

Nungaray’s family and friends gathered Thursday evening to celebrate her life and share memories of the joyful girl whose body was discovered in a shallow creek bed in Houston last week. Two Venezuelans seen with Nungaray the night she died have been arrested and charged with her murder.

Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Peña were captured on surveillance video of Nungaray at a local grocery store on the evening of June 17. Authorities say the two men walked with Nungaray that night to a bridge over a creek, where they attacked the girl, pulled down her pants and strangled her before leaving her body in the swamp below.

Immigration officials confirmed that the men entered the country illegally and did not have permission to remain in the United States at the time of Nungaray’s death. Both Martinez-Rangel and Peña are being held in the Harris County Jail on $10 million bail each.

RELATED: Houston girl’s murder is part of Trump’s attack on Biden’s immigration policy during debate

Patrick’s bill would allow Texans to vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow bail to be denied to suspects charged with capital murder.

“I told Jocelyn’s mom that the Texas Senate would re-pass bail reform and I would not accept that the House of Representatives would reject this law,” Patrick said in a post on X. “It will be named after her daughter ‘Jocelyn’s Law,’ so her daughter’s name will never be will be forgotten and will ensure that convicted murderers will never be able to apply for bail again.”

“I am confident that Texans will overwhelmingly accept this change to our Constitution,” he said.

See more

I just left the funeral of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray. Her alleged killers, both of whom were here illegally and one of whom was actually wearing an ankle monitor given to him by the federal government, are accused of brutally murdering her last week.

Jocelyn’s family was shocked that any bail was…

— Office of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) June 27, 2024

State Sen. Joan Huffman said she would introduce the bill in the next legislative session.

Patrick said Texas senators would also strengthen Lauren’s bill to make murder of a child under 15 a capital crime. Under state law, only murder of a child under 10 is a capital crime.

Despite the objections of Houston Mayor John Whitmire, who publicly urged Martinez-Rangel and Peña to be held without bail, Texas law prevented a judge from denying bail to the men outright. Prosecutors are awaiting lab results to determine whether Nungaray suffered sexual assault on the night of her death, which could bring additional charges against the men.

“If we change this to capital murder with a sexual assault or kidnapping component, those cases would be eligible for the death penalty and then we would be able to have a hearing that would provide evidence,” U.S. Attorney Megan Long said earlier this week.

A white horse-drawn carriage carried the coffin containing Nungaray’s body to her burial site on Thursday. Hundreds of people came to honor Nungaray at an event celebrating her life after the girl’s funeral on Thursday.

“She was amazing,” Alexis Nungaray, her mother, said during a news conference Monday. “I still see her face in the back of my head all day, every day.

“I hear her sayings just playing on a loop in my brain,” she said. “Her goofiness, her weirdness. She definitely made people laugh. I will always remember these memories because she had a bright future ahead of her and I knew she would go very far. These monsters took that chance away from her.