Oct. 20 TEXAS----execution Man convicted in firefighter's murder executed Professing his innocence, Luis Ramirez was executed Thursday night for organizing and carrying out what authorities said was a murder-for-hire scheme that culminated with the shotgun slaying of a San Angelo firefighter who was dating his ex-wife. "I did not kill your loved one, but I hope that one day you find out who did," Ramirez told four siblings of Nemecio Nandin. "I wish I could tell you the reason why or give some kind of solace. You lost someone you love very much, the same as my family and friends are going to lose in a few minutes. "I am sure he died unjustly, just like I am. I did not murder him. I did not have anything to do with his death." Ramirez turned toward a couple of friends he selected to watch him die and told them he loved them. "Even though I die, that love for you will never die," he said. As the drugs began flowing into his arms, Ramirez told witnesses that "it's OK. It's all right. I'm not afraid." He gasped several times and 8 minutes later at 6:18 p.m. he was pronounced dead. Ramirez, 42, denied any involvement in the 1998 murder of Nandin, 29, whose body was found in a shallow grave in a rural area about 25 miles northeast of San Angelo. "Had you told me in 1998 they can do this to people, I would say that's absurd, insane," Ramirez said in a recent interview. "It's just a crazy thing from start to finish. The big question is: Why? Why blame me? Why am I here?" Prosecutors described Ramirez as a jealous ex-husband, so obsessed with his former wife that he paid $1,000 to an accomplice to help with the plot that resulted in Nandin's death. Ramirez's lawyers went to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to halt the lethal injection, challenging testimony from an informant who tied the scheme to Ramirez and accomplice Edward Bell. Bell received a life prison term for his participation. "You never give up hope, but in this area ... you just better hope and pray," Ramirez's lawyer, Rusty Wall, said. About an hour before he was scheduled to die, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles refused this week to commute Ramirez's sentence to life and rejected a request for a 120-day reprieve. Testimony in the capital murder trial showed Ramirez remained obsessed with his ex-wife some two years after a 1995 divorce ended their eight-year marriage. Investigators who questioned the woman said she learned from their children that Ramirez had been asking them about her relationship with Nandin the weekend before the firefighter disappeared and told their children he would "take care of the problem." Authorities believed Ramirez, working with Bell, lured Nandin to the rural area under the pretense of a repair job. Nandin had a side job as an appliance repairman. Evidence showed Nandin was handcuffed, taken to a chicken coop, shot twice with a shotgun and buried. His body was found more than a week later. Bell was arrested in Tyler. Inside his wallet were Ramirez's business card, a hand-drawn map to the home of Ramirez's ex-wife, a description of her vehicle and license plate number, all in Ramirez's handwriting. Also in Bell's vehicle was a pair of jeans covered with Nandin's blood. Bell's girlfriend took detectives to a spot where she said Bell tossed a pair of latex gloves. They found a glove and the keys to Nandin's truck. "I have no idea who did this," said Ramirez, who worked at a San Angelo mortgage company. He insisted he was checking out a property some 70 miles away at the time of the slaying. During the punishment phase of his trial, Ramirez's former wife told jurors she was verbally and physically abused and threatened after they separated. The wife from an earlier marriage testified he abused her as well. There also was testimony about property violence aimed at the women. "It's just an example of why we need in our society to clamp down on incidents of domestic violence as quickly as we can, to keep these things from growing into a larger problem," Steve Lupton, the prosecutor in the case, said this week. "In this case, it was murder." On the Net: Ramirez Web site: http://www.brokenchains.us/TheEagleSpeaks/LRamirez.html Ramirez becomes the 15th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas, and the 987th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. Ramirez becomes the 112th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Rick Perry became Governor in 2001. Ramirez becomes the 43rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 987th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. Nationally, there are 18 more executions scheduled across America before the end of the year, with 6 of them being scheduled in Texas. (sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin) ************************* Missouri killings may have Pampa link A Missouri investigation has caught the interest of Texas authorities trying to solve the slayings of 3 people in rural Pampa. Texas Rangers and the Gray County Sheriff's Department received information Wednesday morning possibly linking a suspect in custody in McDonald County, Mo., with the killing of Brian Conrad, 31, his wife Michell Conrad, 35, and her 14-year-old son Zach Doan in Pampa, said Trooper Daniel Hawthorne of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Michell Conrad was 6 months pregnant at the time of her death. "We are investigating to see if there is any connection," Hawthorne said. The bodies were found by authorities Sept. 30 after Michell Conrad's 10-year-old daughter called 911. Levi A. King, 23, was apprehended that day at a border crossing in El Paso, McDonald County prosecutor Steve Geeding told The Associated Press on Wednesday. He has been charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder. After authorities got King, 23, back to Missouri to face 2 murder charges there, they obtained information that might link him to the Gray County deaths, said McDonald County Deputy Don Ruby. In Missouri, King is accused of killing Orlie and Dawn McCool. He is also charged with stealing three handguns from his father's home. He remains in McDonald County Jail without bond, and Geeding has said he will seek the death penalty, according to the McDonald County Press. The McCools' bodies were found by a relative in the couple's rural Pineville, Mo., home on Sept. 30, the same day that authorities found the three bodies in Pampa. In 2003, King pleaded guilty to arson and burglary charges. He served almost 2 years, then left a halfway house in St. Louis on Sept. 23. There was no immediate apparent connection between the two murder scenes, which are about 375 miles apart. Geeding declined to say specifically what led Missouri authorities to link the McCools' deaths with the Texas slayings. "I think there were indications from him," Geeding said. Investigators with the Texas Rangers and the Gray County Sheriff's Office were en route late Wednesday to the McDonald County Jail, Geeding said. "They're not getting a hold of him until I'm done with him," he said. King appeared "pretty meek and mild" when authorities interviewed him shortly after he was brought to Pineville on Oct. 2, Chief Deputy Gregg Sweeten of the McDonald County Sheriff's Office said. "He was fully cooperative with us," he said. (source: The Amarillo Globe-News) PENNSYLVANIA: Prosecutors will Seek Death Penalty for Easton Teen A NORTHAMPTON COUNTY TEENAGER WILL BE FIGHTING FOR HIS OWN LIFE WHEN HE GOES ON TRIAL FOR MURDER. PROSECUTORS SAY THEY WILL SEEK THE DEATH PENALTY FOR MICHAEL ANTHONY STATON. THE 18-YEAR-OLD IS ACCUSED OF OPENING FIRE AT AN EASTON PORCH IN AUGUST. 17-YEAR-OLD ROY JENKINS WAS STRUCK AND KILLED. INVESTIGATORS SAY THE SHOOTING WAS AN ACT OF REVENGE FOR A ROBBERY, BUT JENKINS WASN'T THE INTENDED TARGET. (source: WFMZ News) UTAH: Smuggler Could Face Death Penalty In Van Crash Federal prosecutors might seek the death penalty against an accused smuggler they blame for a fatal minivan rollover in southern Utah. The man is being held responsible for packing 16 undocumented immigrants inside the minivan and was indicted on a smuggling charge that's punishable by up to life in prison or the death penalty. Prosecutors are still deciding how to pursue the case against Ramses Castellano-Lin, 25, a survivor of the Oct. 11 crash that killed 2 Guatemalan women and left 14 others from Guatemala and Mexico injured, said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul Warner. Warner's office issued a statement Thursday saying it could seek the death penalty against Castellano-Lin. But later, Rydalch said Warner was having reservations because prosecutors would have to prove that Castellano-Lin intended to cause the women's deaths -and authorities have ruled the rollover an accident. Castellano-Lin, a Mexican national, wasn't at the wheel of the van when it crashed. He had turned the van over to a younger driver, who fell asleep, drifted off U.S. Route 191 south of Moab and overcorrected, rolling the van several times. But prosecutors are holding Castellano-Lin responsible, saying he was the original driver who picked up the undocumented immigrants for a trip from Phoenix to Denver. Castellano-Lin is in a hospital recovering from his injuries as a front-seat passenger. No date has been set yet for his arraignment. A federal grand jury indicted Castellano-Lin on Wednesday on a charge of transporting illegal aliens resulting in death. Rydalch said prosecutors are looking at also charging the driver, who claims to be 17. Authorities suspect he's older and are trying to retrieve a copy of his birth certificate. If he turns out to be younger than 18, prosecutors may start proceedings seeking to prosecute him as an adult anyway, Rydalch said. Sheriff's deputies found the driver walking along a remote stretch of the highway 12 hours after the accident. He was turned over to immigration authorities. The Utah Highway Patrol will file traffic or criminal charges against the driver if federal prosecutors decide against seeking a federal charge, trooper Jeff Nigbur said. (source: Associated Press) USA: Tougher penalties for sex offenders backed The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved legislation toughening federal penalties for child sex offenders, prompted by the assault and murder of a 10-year-old girl from Cedar Rapids. Jetseta Gage went missing on March 24 from her home and her body was found stuffed in a cabinet in an abandoned mobile home. Roger Bentley of Brandon, a family friend, has been charged in connection with the crime. Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa earlier this year had proposed levying the death penalty in some cases on sex offenders who murder children, but that provision was removed from the bill. Grassley, a member of the committee, said he agreed to take it out but was disappointed. "I understand that a number of the members of this committee have qualms about the expansion of the death penalty," said Grassley. "I appreciate their concern. I come at the death penalty with much soberness and thoughtfulness. I value human life and would only support expanding the death penalty for the worst types of crimes." The bill levies tougher mandatory minimum sentences for some child sex crimes, enhances penalties, increases monitoring and authorizes a national sex offender database. Grassley said to get the bill through the committee he had to give up on other mandatory minimum sentences, including those related to child prostitution and child pornography. "Frankly, I believe that these are serious offenses that should be dealt with more harshly," he said. (source: Des Moines Register)
