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Texas man executed for 2001 abduction and killing of 18-year-old woman
CTV News ^ | June 26, 2024 | Juan A. Lozano and Michael Graczyk

Posted on 06/26/2024 7:50:10 PM PDT by DoodleBob

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

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.

"I can't put into words the pain I have caused y'all, the hurt, what I took away that I cannot give back. I hope this apology is enough," the inmate said in words directed to the family.

"I never stopped praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would have this opportunity to apologize. I owe all of you my life and I hope one day you will forgive me," he added, just before a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began flowing.

As the drug took effect, he took seven breaths, then began sounds like snores. Within less than a minute, all movement had stopped. Authorities said his time of death was 24 minutes after the injection began.

Gonzales kidnapped Townsend from a rural home in Bandera County, northwest of San Antonio. He later took her to his family's ranch in neighbouring 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 defence 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, a legal finding needed to impose a death sentence.

"He has earnestly devoted himself to self-improvement, contemplation, and prayer, and has grown into a mature, peaceful, kind, loving, and deeply religious adult. He acknowledges his responsibility for his crimes and has sought to atone for them and to seek redemption through his actions," Gonzales' lawyers had written Monday in their unsuccessful request to the Supreme Court for a stay of execution. After re-evaluating Gonzales in 2022, Gripon said his prediction was wrong.

Earlier this month, a group of 11 evangelical leaders from Texas and around the country asked the parole board and Gov. Greg Abbott to halt the execution and grant clemency. They had said Gonzalez was helping other death row inmates through a faith-based program.

In video submitted as part of his clemency request to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Gonzales admitted responsibility.

"I just want (Townsend's mother) to know how sorry I really am. I took everything that was valuable from a mother," said Gonzales, who was 18 years old at the time. "So, every day it's a continual task to do everything that I can to feel that responsibility for the life that I took."

The victim's brother wasn't persuaded. In various petitions and posts on Change.org, David Townsend criticized efforts to portray Gonzales as anything other than a convicted murderer who committed "unforgivable acts."

"Our family seeks not revenge, but closure and a measure of peace after years of heartache -- a quest that is hindered, not helped, by decisions that allow the perpetrator of our pain to remain in the public eye," he wrote.

On Monday, the parole board voted 7-0 against commuting Gonzales' death sentence to a lesser penalty. Members also rejected granting him a six-month reprieve.

Prosecutors described Gonzales as a sexual predator who told police he ignored Townsend's pleas to spare her life. They argued that jurors reached the right decision on a death sentence.

"The State's punishment case was overwhelming," the Texas Attorney General's Office said. "Even if Dr. Gripon's testimony were wiped from the punishment slate, it would not have mattered."

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 seven-year-old girl.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: alexanderbusek; deathpenalty
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To: DoodleBob

I am having a harder time every day understanding what kind of person grows up wanting to be a “DEFENSE ATTORNEY”.


21 posted on 06/27/2024 12:46:52 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: George J. Jetso

IIRC-— an easily run around $100,000 a year.


22 posted on 06/27/2024 12:48:16 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: Blue Highway

The “Q” has a number of death row inmates, that have been there, since the early 80s. Unfortunately, they get the best health care money can buy.


23 posted on 06/27/2024 12:52:45 AM PDT by Mark17 (Retired USAF air traffic controller. Father of Air Force pilot. Both bitten by the aviation bug)
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To: Blue Highway

the major expense in keeping these death row inmates in prison for so long are the legal maneuvers...leave it to lawyers to ruin everything they touch, just for money.


24 posted on 06/27/2024 1:11:17 AM PDT by cherry
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To: Clay Moore
We don’t need an electric chair, we need electric bleachers!

Credit where credit is due.

The actor portraying "Garibaldi," Jerry Doyle, had overheard Doyle saying that in real life by Straczynski, so Straczynski included it in a script.

Regards,

25 posted on 06/27/2024 1:27:26 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: DoodleBob

He got a Humane Death.
She didn’t.


26 posted on 06/27/2024 1:51:50 AM PDT by tennmountainman ( (“Less propaganda would be appreciated.” JimRob 12-2-2023 DITTO)
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To: DoodleBob
Has anyone else seen that there is a pattern?


27 posted on 06/27/2024 2:27:05 AM PDT by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Goldwater & Thomas Sowell in 2024)
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To: DoodleBob

And the World is a better place today for it.


28 posted on 06/27/2024 2:50:38 AM PDT by popdonnelly (All the enormous crimes in history have been committed by governments.)
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To: popdonnelly

He dropped out of school in the 7th grade which in Texas I believe means he had to be 16. That’s quite a few Fs.

Libs don’t like to admit it but there is a fairly strong inverse correlation in intelligence and violent crime. Despite fantasy characters like Hannibal Lector the average psycho killer is stupid.


29 posted on 06/27/2024 3:31:57 AM PDT by Phoenix8
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To: DoodleBob
A. M. F.
30 posted on 06/27/2024 3:40:18 AM PDT by Feckless (The US Gubbmint / This Tagline CENSORED by FR \ IrOnic, ain't it?)
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To: DoodleBob
I've spent some time checking out the website that the Texas Department of Prisons maintains for its "death row". Among the things found on the site is a list of those who've been executed over the last 20+ years.

You can click on the name of a particular executed person and see some details about him. You can also see if he's given a "last statement".

I've looked at some of those last statements and have been surprised by how many contain acknowledgments of guilt and expressions of remorse. Yes,there are some where the guy says "I didn't do it" or "the death penalty is wrong" but the majority seem to feature remorse. Maybe there is "redemption" after all..

31 posted on 06/27/2024 3:50:42 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Never Trust A Man Whose Uncle Was Eaten By Cannibals)
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To: DoodleBob

23 years of taxpayers money for this POS when 30cent bullet at the guilty verdict would have done the job.


32 posted on 06/27/2024 4:47:33 AM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: DoodleBob
scheduled to execute Richard Rojem for the 1984

40 years later...SMH!

33 posted on 06/27/2024 4:54:56 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: DoodleBob
Gonzales kidnapped Townsend from a rural home in Bandera County, northwest of San Antonio. He later took her to his family's ranch in neighbouring 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.

Well, AMF then.

34 posted on 06/27/2024 5:39:15 AM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.)
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To: DoodleBob
"He has earnestly devoted himself to self-improvement, contemplation, and prayer, and has grown into a mature, peaceful, kind, loving, and deeply religious adult. He acknowledges his responsibility for his crimes and has sought to atone for them and to seek redemption through his actions," Gonzales' lawyers had written Monday in their unsuccessful request to the Supreme Court for a stay of execution.

The fact that he tortured / raped / murdered two women - that we know of - that’s just an unfortunate part of his past!

35 posted on 06/27/2024 5:42:37 AM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.)
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To: DoodleBob

Whenever a democrat is executed, a toilet is immediately flushed.

In 2025, there are going to be many many more toilets flushed.


36 posted on 06/27/2024 5:44:54 AM PDT by Flavious_Maximus (Tony Fauci will be put on death row and die of COVID!)
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To: gibsonguy

Should have been within 90 days of being found guilty. Even better they should have followed Dean Martin in ROUGH NIGHT IN JERICHO.
“Lock him up. We’ll hang him tomorrow right after the trial.”


37 posted on 06/27/2024 6:20:41 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar ( Government is not reason, it is not eloquence-it is force!--G. Washington)
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To: DoodleBob

23 years of 3 hots and a cot not to mention hundreds of lawyer hours billed to the public coffers. A hemp and branch party held immediately after the first lost appeal would be far more appropriate.

Yes, an occasional innocent may be lost in this expidited process but if society knows for a fact that you will not live more than a week after your trial, there would be far less crime of any type.


38 posted on 06/27/2024 6:33:07 AM PDT by ByteMercenary (Cho Bi Dung and KamalHo are not my leaders.)
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To: gibsonguy
Wasting air for 16 years after being sentenced.
39 posted on 06/27/2024 7:50:35 AM PDT by bgill (.)
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To: Beowulf9

Whatever he said it “were” plural.


40 posted on 06/27/2024 7:51:34 AM PDT by bgill (.)
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