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.
23 years
“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”
All on the tax payer dime for 23 years.
Monster.
This link shows the girl.
Problem is Justice in our imperfect system is not swift and sure.
If it were, many lives of innocents may be saved.
The other problem is the prosecutors can’t be held responsible so they are reckless.
Next!
Yeah no wonder we have an out of control national debt. How much did it cost to keep this POS alive for these 23 years? Now consider all these illegals that are going to be murderers. We going to keep them alive for 20+ years too?
It’s real easy to stay on the straight and narrow when you’re in prison. The opportunities to kidnap rap and murder teenagers is extremely limited. He got what he deserved, just 23 years late.
I can only pray that he spent those (too) many years “in peace and repentance”.
I wonder what it was that this Dr. Grippon said, not mentioned in the article. Just the mention of that kind of pops up.
That guy died a lot easier than the girl did.
We don’t need an electric chair, we need electric bleachers!
Problem is Justice in our imperfect system is not swift and sure.
If it were, many lives of innocents may be saved.
The other problem is the prosecutors can’t be held responsible so they are reckless.
Visitors bleachers for the witnesses to watch ‘em ride the lightning.
Just don’t get them mixed-up!
I appreciate his words of repentance. It is much better than the ugly or in denial things we sometimes see.
That said I feel like if i had done this I’d have taken my punishment and not fought it. Maybe that is easier said than done. But that’s what I think.
I’m still not sure if he should rot in prison or have a quick execution. Although the cost of maintaining people like him with free room and board is an argument for a quick execution.
23 years
That is why the death penalty “doesn’t work”. No one even remembers the case. If it was 23 months people would think, I I remember that, crap, that’s what will happen if I do that.
It’s a scam, the lawyers make more money the more it’s delayed. The same thing will happen to those two scumbags from Venezuela that raped and killed the 12 year old.
Might you be a fan of Babylon 5? Garibaldi said the exact same thing on an episode of that.
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