[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 28



TEXAS----execution

Texas executes ex-gang member for the 2000 shooting deaths of 3 rivals in San 
Antonio


A former gang member was put to death Tuesday evening for the fatal shootings 
of 3 rivals 14 years ago in San Antonio.

Miguel Paredes, 32, was convicted along with 2 other men in the September 2000 
slayings of three people with ties to the Mexican Mafia. The victims' bodies 
were rolled up in a carpet, driven about 50 miles southwest, dumped and set on 
fire. A farmer investigating a grass fire found the remains.

Paredes was pronounced dead at 6:54 p.m. CDT, 22 minutes after being injected 
with a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital. The execution was delayed 
slightly to ensure the IV lines were functioning properly, said Department of 
Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark. The procedure calls for 2 working 
lines.

Normally needles are placed in the crease of an inmate's arms near the elbows, 
but in Paredes' case, prison officials inserted IV lines into his hands.

As witnesses entered the death chamber in Huntsville, Paredes smiled and 
mouthed several kisses to 4 friends watching through a window and repeatedly 
told them he loved them. He told everyone gathered that he hoped his victims' 
family members would "let go of all of the hate because of all my actions."M

"I came in as a lion and I come as peaceful as a lamb," Paredes said. "I'm at 
peace. I hope society sees who else they are hurting with this."

As the drugs began taking effect, he took several deep breaths while praying. 
He started to snore and eventually stopped.

The execution was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a 
last-day appeal from attorneys who contended Paredes was mentally impaired and 
his previous lawyers were deficient for not investigating his mental history.

Prosecutors said Paredes was the most aggressive shooter when Nelly Bravo and 
Shawn Michael Cain, both 23, and Adrian Torres, 27, showed up to collect drug 
money at the home of John Anthony Saenz, a leader in Paredes' gang.

Defense attorneys argued that Paredes, who turned 18 6 weeks before the 
slayings, grew up in a neighborhood where the only way to survive was to join a 
gang.

No friends or relatives of the victims attended Paredes' execution. Cain's 
family said in a statement afterward that Cain was "no longer with us for no 
other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Our family has waited 14 years for justice to finally be served," the 
statement said.

Paperwork carrying Saenz's name was found in the debris with the victims' 
bodies and helped police solve the case. Saenz, 32, claimed self-defense and 
avoided the death penalty when jurors sentenced him to life. The 3rd man 
convicted in the killings, Greg Alvarado, 35, pleaded guilty and also is 
serving life in prison.

Paredes becomes the 10th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in 
Texas, and the 518th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on 
December 7, 1982. Paredes becomes the 279th condemned inmate to be put to death 
in Texas since Rick Perry became governor in 2001. With no other lethal 
injections scheduled this year, the annual total will be the lowest since 3 
were carried out in 1996. But at least 9 are scheduled for early 2015, 
including 4 in January.


Paredes becomes the 31st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the 
USA and the 1390th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 
1977.

(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)

*******************

Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-----279

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present----518

Perry #--------scheduled execution date-----name---------Tx. #

280------------Jan. 14------------------Rodney Reed-----------519

281------------Jan. 15------------------Richard Vasquez-------520

282------------Jan. 21-------------------Arnold Prieto--------521

283------------Jan. 28-------------------Garcia White---------522

284------------Feb. 4--------------------Donald Newbury-------523

285------------Feb. 10-------------------Les Bower, Jr.-------524

286------------Mar. 11-------------------Manuel Vasquez-------525

287------------Mar. 18-------------------Randall Mays---------526

288------------Apr. 15-------------------Manual Garza---------527

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






OKLAHOMA----new execution date

Cole's execution set for March 5


A 4th death row inmate has a scheduled execution date at the Oklahoma State 
Penitentiary in McAlester.

A court set Benjamin Robert Cole Jr.'s execution date for March 5, 2015, in the 
2002 slaying of Cole's 9-month daughter, Brianna, in Claremore. Cole killed the 
baby because her crying interupted his video game playing.

"As Cole has exhausted his appeals and no stay of execution is in place, this 
court is required to set an execution date," 4 judges wrote in an opinion 
issued by the Court of Criminal Appeals of the state of Oklahoma.

The court on Friday also rescheduled execution dates for three other death row 
prisoners. Those inmates are Charles Warner, Jan. 15; Richard Eugene Glossip, 
Jan. 29 and John Marion Grant, Feb. 19. The men previously had their execution 
dates delayed in the aftermath of the botched April execution of Clayton 
Lockett at OSP in April.

It took nearly 40 minutes for the convicted killer to die and a state 
investigation determined an intrevaneous line delivering drugs to Lockett's 
system shifted. The state said it has since revised its execution protocol but 
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt recently filed court paperwork seeking 
to delay the executions so the state can secure the drugs necessary and carry 
out additional training for Department of Corrections personnel and medical 
professionals.

Dale Baich is an assistant federal public defender who represents death row 
inmate Tremane Wood. He told the News-Capital in an interview Tuesday a 
complaint was filed recently in the federal courts of the Western District of 
Oklahoma on behalf of 21 inmates - including Warner, Glossip, Grant and Cole - 
seeking more information on what went wrong with Lockett's execution. He said a 
full report from the state on Lockett's execution hasn't been released 
publicly.

"During the discovery process in the federal proceedings, we hope to be able to 
depose a number of individuals from the Department of Corrections, people and 
others who participated in the execution to try and get to the bottom of what 
really happened," Baich said.

Cole confessed to attacking Brianna Cole at the family home in Claremore. The 
child's back was broken and her aorta ruptured when Cole deliberately bent the 
child backwards and in half. Cole had a prior conviction in California for 
felony child abuse against another child.

Warner is scheduled to die for raping and killing an 11-month-old in 1997. 
Glossip was convicted of orchestrating the murder of a motel owner who was 
preparing to question Glossip about money missing from the property. Grant 
killed corrections worker Gay Carter by stabbing her 16 times in the chest at a 
correctional facility in Hominy.

(source: Edmond Sun)