Ramiro Gonzales abused and killed a young woman in 2001. He was sentenced to death.
A Texas death row inmate asked the governor to delay his scheduled execution for 30 days on Wednesday so he can donate a kidney, a wish his lawyers say stems from his efforts to remedy his murder.
The lawyers of Ramiro Gonzales39 years old, sentenced to death for the murder of Bridget Townsend in 2001 they asked for a postponement in a June 29 letter to the governor Greg Abbott, writing in part that Gonzales’ request to donate an organ to a stranger was “consistent with his efforts to atone for his crimes”.
According to authorities, Gonzales, who was also 18 at the time, kidnapped and sexually assaulted Townsend before shooting him. Gonzales has been in prison since 2006.
Gonzales has been detained since 2006. He admitted to the murder of a young woman and was sentenced to death.
Attorneys Thea Posel and Raoul Schonem told Governor Abbott that a University of Texas transplant team felt Gonzales was a “excellent candidate” for donation due to his rare blood type.
“Virtually all that’s left is surgery to remove Ramiro’s kidney,” a process that will take a month, lawyers told Governor Abbott.
“I have no doubt that Ramiro’s desire to be an altruistic kidney donor is not motivated by a last-minute attempt to stop or delay his execution,” he says.
Ramiro Gonzales abused and killed a young woman in 2001. He was sentenced to death.
But the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which allowed Gonzales to be evaluated for organ donation, objected due to his looming execution date.
Gonzales actually requested an organ donation prior to his execution, but was found ineligible under the department’s health policy, a department spokesperson confirmed to CNN on July 3.
Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, gave up on the inmate idea.
“He still wants to save a life,” Michael Zoosman, a Jewish cleric whose correspondence with Gonzales first marked the inmate’s desire to donate a kidney, told CNN. “And Texas denies him.”
as was the crime
Gonzales, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was trying to buy drugs in January 2001 from Townsend’s boyfriend, the victim.
When Gonzales called her dealer, Bridget Townsend answered the phone and told her her partner was at work. Gonzales went to the dealer’s house, stole money and kidnapped the dealer’s girlfriend.
Then he raped her and killed her in a nearby house.
In October 2002, sitting in a county jail awaiting jail for an unrelated matter, Gonzales took authorities to Townsend’s body and ended up confessing to the murder, the records show.
Source: Clarin
