The state of Texas was executed this Wednesday to Hispanics John Henry Ramirezconvicted in 2008 for the 2004 stabbing murder of Pablo Castro, a Corpus Christi warehouse employee, during a robbery.

Ramírez, 38, received lethal injection in Huntsville prison and was pronounced dead at 6:41 pm local time. His last words were dedicated to his victim’s familyPablo Castro and his people, including his wife and son.

Ramírez’s execution had been postponed three times and was executed because of objections from Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez, who opposes the death penalty.

The shepherd who accompanied him to the end

Ramírez’s case achieved national notoriety when the detainee appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice with his claim that Dana Moore, the pastor of the Corpus Christi Baptist Church, was authorized to was present in the execution room, and pray out loud and touch it during the process.

This was established by the Supreme Court Texas violated Ramírez’s religious freedom by denying him permission so that his pastor would accompany him in his last moments.

The robbery that led to his execution

In July 2004 Ramírez and two women have decided to robar a shop to make money and buy drugs and, according to trial documents, when they met Castro, a 46-year-old father of 9 and grandfather of 14, Ramírez stabbed him at least 29 times.

Ramírez and his accomplices fled the scene by taking $ 1.25 which is all Castro had with him.

Ramírez and the two women then carried out another robbery. and they were about to commit a third when the police located them. The women were arrested but Ramírez fled to Mexico where he managed to escape the authorities for more than three years until he was captured near the border in February 2008.

EFE