[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

July 17




TEXAS----execution

Christopher Young, death row inmate from San Antonio, executed for deadly


A Texas prisoner was executed Tuesday evening for the fatal shooting of a San 
Antonio convenience store owner after courts turned down appeals that the state 
parole board improperly rejected the inmate's clemency request because he's 
black.

Christopher Young, 34, never denied the slaying, which was recorded on a store 
surveillance camera, but insisted he was drunk and didn't intend to kill 
53-year-old Hasmukh "Hash" Patel during an attempted robbery after drinking 
nearly two dozen beers and then doing cocaine that Sunday morning, Nov. 21, 
2004.

Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Young said he wanted to make 
sure his victim's family knew he loved them "like they love me."

"Make sure the kids in the world know I'm being executed and those kids I've 
been mentoring keep this fight going," he added.

As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, he twice 
used an obscenity to say he could taste it and that it was burning.

"I taste it in my throat," he said.

As he slipped into unconsciousness, he said something unintelligible and began 
taking shallow breaths. He stopped moving within about 30 seconds and was 
pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. CDT.

25 minutes had passed since he was first given the lethal drug.

Young's attorneys sued the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles after the panel 
last week rejected a clemency plea where they argued Young was "no longer the 
young man he was when he arrived" on death row, that he was "truly remorseful" 
and that Patel's son did not wish the execution to take place.

In their federal civil rights suit, Young's lawyers argued a white Texas 
inmate, Thomas Whitaker, received a rare commutation earlier this year as his 
execution was imminent for the slaying of his mother and brother. Young is 
black and race improperly "appears to be the driving force in this case," 
attorney David Dow said in the appeal that sought to delay the punishment.

A federal judge in Houston dismissed the lawsuit and refused to stop the 
execution, then hours later Tuesday the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 
turned down an appeal of that ruling. Young's attorneys did not take the case 
to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general, said the lawsuit was a 
delay tactic, improper, speculative and "legally and factually deficient."

Young and his lawyers argued he no longer was a Bloods street gang member, had 
matured in prison and hoped to show others "look where you can end up."

"I didn't know about death row," Young told The Associated Press recently from 
prison. "It needs to be talked about. You've got a whole new generation. You've 
got to stop this, not just executions but the crimes. Nobody's talking to these 
kids. I can't bring Hash back but I can do something to make sure there's no 
more Hashes."

According to court documents, Young sexually assaulted a woman in her apartment 
with her three young children present, then forced her to drive off with him in 
her car. She managed to escape, and records show he drove one block to the Mini 
Food Mart where owner Patel was shot. He was arrested 90 minutes later after 
picking up a prostitute and driving to a crack house where the stolen car was 
parked outside and spotted by San Antonio police.

>From prison, he denied the sexual assault, although court records said DNA 
tests confirmed the attack. He said he shot Patel in the hand and the bullet 
careened into Patel's chest, killing him. The surveillance camera recorded both 
video and audio of the shooting and two customers in the parking lot identified 
Young as the shooter.

Mitesh Patel, whose father was killed by Young, said he supported Young's 
clemency bid because "nothing positive comes from his execution" and carrying 
out the punishment would leave Young's three teenage daughters without a 
father.

The victim's son met privately with Young in prison Monday.

"I don't agree with the state's choice to execute him," he told the San Antonio 
Express-News after the meeting.

Young said the shooting stemmed from a dispute he believed involved the mother 
of 1 of his 3 children and the store owner. The woman, however, lied to him, he 
said.

"He was not a bad dude at all," Young said. "I was drunk. We knew the victim. 
The whole confrontation went wrong. I thought he was reaching for a gun and I 
shot."

Young said he excelled at chess and violin, cello and bass but "all that 
stopped" and he joined the Bloods when he was about 8 after his father was shot 
and killed in a robbery.

Young became the 8th prisoner put to death this year in Texas, 1 more
than all of 2017 in the nation's busiest capital punishment state. He
becomes the 35th condemned inmate to be put to death since Greg Abbott became 
Governor of Texas, and is the 553rd inmate to be executed since the state 
resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982.

At least 7 other Texas inmates have execution dates in the coming months.

Young becomes the 13th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA 
and the 1478th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 178, 
1977.

(sources: ABC News & Rick Halperin)



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Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----35

http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/death_row/dr_scheduled_executions.html



Executions in Texas:  Dec. 7, 1982----present-----553

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




36---------Sept. 12---------------Ruben Gutierrez---------554

37---------Sept. 26---------------Troy Clark--------------555

38---------Sept. 27---------------Daniel Acker------------556

49---------Oct. 10----------------Juan Segundo------------557

40---------Oct. 24----------------Kwame Rockwell----------558

41---------Nov. 7-----------------Emanuel Kemp------------559

44---------Dec. 4-----------------Joseph Garcia-----------560

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)