Texas justice carried out its second execution of the year on Wednesday. She imposed the death penalty on Ramiro Gonzales, convicted of a murder committed more than twenty years ago.
Execution by lethal injection
On Wednesday June 26, Ramiro Gonzalesaged 41, was executed by lethal injection in Texas. This is the second time this year that the capital punishment was applied in this southern state UNITED STATES, and the eighth time nationally. The forty-year-old was declared dead early in the evening, according to a press release from Texas authorities.
Ramiro Gonzales was sentenced to death in 2006 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of his drug supplier’s girlfriend in 2001. Unsolved for 18 months, the crime was solved when Gonzales, already incarcerated for another rape, confessed to the murder and led authorities to the victim’s body.
Rejection of Mr. Gonzales’ last appeals
The appeals of lawyers M. Gonzales before the courts of Texas and the Supreme Court of UNITED STATES were unsuccessful. They stressed that in deciding whether to impose the death penalty, jurors must consider the likelihood that the convict will pose a threat of violence in the future. Psychiatrist Edward Gripon changed his assessment after seeing Gonzales again on death row in 2021, concluding that he no longer posed a threat to society.
In 2023, the UNITED STATES carried out 24 executions, all carried out by lethal injection. In 23 of the 50 American states, the death sentence was abolished. In 6 states such as Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, executions are temporarily suspended by decision of the governors.
