“Time TV”
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Texas’ parole board on Monday denied clemency for loss of life row inmate Ramiro Gonzales, who’s scheduled to be executed Wednesday for a 2001 homicide, regardless of the actual fact a key knowledgeable witness now not stands by his testimony at trial.

Gonzales, 41, had requested the Board of Pardons and Paroles to suggest clemency, which might enable GOP Gov. Greg Abbott to commute the inmate’s sentence to a lesser punishment, like life in jail with out parole, for the 2001 sexual assault and killing of 18-year-old Bridget Townsend. Gonzales and his attorneys pointed to his traumatic upbringing and his rehabilitation – illustrated by his Christian religion – as causes to spare his life, the petition reveals.

In a pair of transient orders Wednesday, the US Supreme Court docket rejected a last-minute attraction from Gonzales to pause his execution.

Gonzales on Monday had requested the excessive court docket for a keep of execution after the Texas Court docket of Legal Appeals rejected an attraction through which the inmate argued his trial jury’s dedication that he would stay a harmful risk – a requirement for a capital sentence in Texas – was primarily based on testimony by an knowledgeable witness who relied on information later discovered to be false.

And it was finally fallacious, his attorneys argued, as proven by Gonzales’ redemption behind bars and his earlier makes an attempt to donate a kidney.

Thus, Gonzales needs to be ineligible for execution, his attorneys contended, and executing him would violate his constitutional rights underneath the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Moreover, they argued Texas had violated his Constitutional rights by requiring a discovering of “future dangerousness” for a capital sentence with out offering a chance for it to be reviewed in post-conviction proceedings.

Gonzales and his attorneys superior comparable arguments of their appeals earlier than the US Supreme Court docket.

His attorneys advised the Supreme Court docket Gonzales has “grown right into a mature, peaceable, sort, loving, and deeply non secular grownup.” His attorneys argued it will violate the Structure to execute somebody who didn’t meet the eligibility standards for a loss of life sentence on state legislation.

The state rejected that argument in its personal briefing, accusing Gonzales of ready “till the eleventh hour to lift these claims” and trying to “bypass” decrease courts.

The Texas parole board voted 7-0 towards recommending a commutation of sentence or a 180-day reprieve. His attorneys had been “deeply saddened and disenchanted” by the choice, they stated in a press release.

“If Ramiro is executed on Wednesday, the world can be a darker place with out him,” the attorneys stated.

With out the board’s advice, Abbott is restricted by state legislation to issuing a one-time 30-day reprieve.

The deliberate execution of Gonzales, who was beforehand slated to be put to loss of life in July 2022 earlier than the Texas Court docket of Legal Appeals granted a keep, is one in every of two scheduled this week in america. On Thursday, Oklahoma intends to execute Richard Rojem, who was convicted of the 1984 kidnapping, rape and homicide of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Layla Cummings, court docket data present. Final week, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole board voted towards recommending clemency for Rojem, who claims he’s harmless, “Time TV” affiliate KOCO reported.

If each Gonzales and Rojem are put to loss of life, their executions can be the eighth and ninth to happen within the nation this yr, in line with the Loss of life Penalty Data Middle, a non-profit that screens and analyzes details about capital punishment and has been essential of its administration.

Each can be the second particular person to be executed of their respective states in 2024. By this time final yr, 13 inmates had been put to loss of life within the US, the middle’s information reveals.

Within the Texas case, the Medina County Legal District Lawyer’s Workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. “Time TV” has tried to succeed in members of Townsend’s household for remark.

In the future in January 2001, Gonzales known as the house of his drug provider, who was Townsend’s boyfriend, in line with a court docket of appeals opinion from 2009 affirming the inmate’s conviction and loss of life sentence.

Townsend answered, the opinion states, and advised Gonzales her boyfriend was at work. Gonzales then went to the house seeking medication, and he stole cash and tied Towsend’s arms and ft earlier than kidnapping her. He then drove her to a spot close to his household’s ranch, the place he raped and fatally shot her, the court docket opinion says.

In October 2002, whereas sitting in a county jail in connection to the rape of one other girl, Gonzales confessed to Townsend’s killing and led authorities to her physique, court docket data present.

Gonzales was 18 when he murdered Townsend, his clemency petition says, contending he was within the throes of drug dependancy that was “compounded by the trauma and neglect that marked his childhood,” his clemency petition states.

Gonzales’ mom drank and used medication throughout her being pregnant and gave her son to her mother and father when he was born, the petition claims. She had two different kids whom she raised, it says, however didn’t acknowledge Gonzales as her son. The petition additionally says Gonzales was sexually abused all through his childhood, starting at age 6.

Gonzales started utilizing medication in his teenagers, after his aunt – with whom he was shut – was killed by a drunken driver, inflicting him “inconsolable grief,” the petition says.

“Within the years that adopted, Ramiro’s life spiraled uncontrolled,” it says.

Throughout his years on loss of life row, Gonzales has turn into a “residing testomony to the facility of rehabilitation and human capability for progress and alter,” his attorneys argued this month in his attraction earlier than the Texas Court docket of Legal Appeals. He has turn into “deeply non secular,” has “dedicated no legal acts of violence” and has tried to atone for his crimes – partially by making an attempt to donate a kidney.

Forward of his final execution date, Gonzales sought a 30-day reprieve so he may take part in an altruistic kidney donation. However the Texas Division of Legal Justice deemed him ineligible underneath its well being care coverage, a spokesperson advised “Time TV” on the time, as a result of an organ transplant would introduce an “unsure timeline” that may intrude with an execution date.

Gonzales’ attorneys stated that’s only one instance of Gonzales’ “progress and rehabilitation,” additionally citing his dedication to his religion and ministry to others on loss of life row, in line with the latest attraction.

Taken collectively, Gonzales’ attorneys stated, this proof displays the inmate is now not a risk to society, disproving a discovering made by his jury at trial that was required for him to be sentenced to loss of life.

Moreover, Gonzales’ attorneys argued the proof jurors relied upon to make the dedication of future dangerousness was fallacious: An knowledgeable witness for the state testified throughout the penalty part of the inmate’s trial that he had identified Gonzales with delinquent persona dysfunction, and that “a number of information” confirmed intercourse offenders had been prone to proceed to commit crimes, citing partially recidivism information.

That information has since been discovered to be inaccurate, and the knowledgeable in 2021 evaluated Gonzales and has recanted his testimony, together with the prognosis, Gonzales’ attraction said. The knowledgeable advised The Marshall Mission he had by no means modified his opinion in a capital case previous to this one, calling it “the exception, not the rule.”

When the Court docket of Legal Appeals halted Gonzales’ final execution, it despatched the case again to his trial court docket to assessment the knowledgeable’s testimony and whether or not it impacted the jury’s resolution. Gonzales’ attraction stated the state really useful reduction be denied and that the decrease court docket agreed with out holding a listening to. The appeals court docket finally denied reduction in June 2023.

“Time TV”’s John Fritze contributed to this report.