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June 26, 2024
Texas completes execution for murder committed 23 years ago
As reported in this AP article, a "Texas man who admitted he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and fatally shot an 18-year-old woman in 2001 was executed Wednesday evening. Ramiro Gonzales, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. CDT following a chemical injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the January 2001 killing of Bridget Townsend." Here is more:
Gonzales was repeatedly apologetic to the victim’s relatives in his last statement from the execution chamber. Just before he spoke, a spiritual adviser sang a prayer, resting her left hand on his chest....
Gonzales kidnapped Townsend from a rural home in Bandera County, northwest of San Antonio. He later took her to his family’s ranch in neighboring Medina County, where he sexually assaulted her before killing her. Her body wasn’t found until October 2002, when Gonzales led authorities to her remains in southwest Texas after he had received two life sentences for kidnapping and raping another woman.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined a defense plea to intervene about 1 and 1/2 hours before the scheduled execution start time. The high court rejected arguments by Gonzales’ lawyers that he had taken responsibility for what he did and that a prosecution expert witness now says he was wrong in testifying that Gonzales would be a future danger to society....
Gonzales’ execution was the second this year in Texas and the eighth in the U.S. On Thursday, Oklahoma is scheduled to execute Richard Rojem for the 1984 abduction, rape and killing of a 7-year-old girl.
June 26, 2024 at 09:02 PM | Permalink
Comments
The guy apologized and therefore died with some modicum of dignity.
Posted by: federalist | Jun 27, 2024 9:22:10 AM
"On Thursday, Oklahoma is scheduled to execute Richard Rojem for the 1984 abduction, rape and killing of a 7-year-old girl."
It's funny to me--'rats are bitching about Cannon alleged slow pace, but are cool with these kinds of delays. By the by, Cannon is being nice to the prosecutors. They have already admitted lying to her--so why isn't someone in jail for contempt, and she hasn't jammed them with the FBI staging photos (i.e., where they brought along folders to make the evidence look damning). By the way, the FBI agent who did that and then got it publicized should go to jail for the rest of his/her life.
Posted by: federalist | Jun 27, 2024 10:51:46 AM
Federalist, that seems to arise in many cases, not just ones involving Donald Trump. For example, it is difficult to dispute that prosecution witness Jennifer McCabe lied in the Karen Read trial. Eight "butt dials", all to the same number and none of them answered, in the space of under an hour. Hence McCabe would have had to "butt dial" the same number eight times, then "butt hang up" before it went to voice mail. And the prosecution generally had so many inconsistencies that the defense gave a long list in their closing argument, but didn't even mention all of them.
Yet Judge Cannone did nothing about it.
Posted by: William Jockusch | Jun 27, 2024 1:18:27 PM
That judges let prosecutors get away with it doesn't mean that Smith's crew should . . . .
Posted by: federalist | Jun 28, 2024 9:25:55 AM
