April 13
TEXAS----2 new execution dates set
Execution date set in Edinburg massacre, Donna slayings
A Tri-City Bombers gang member convicted of killing several Donna women 4
months before authorities said he helped shoot and kill 6 men during the
Edinburg massacre is set to be executed this fall.
Robert "Bones" Garza, 30, was convicted of 2 counts of capital murder in
December 2003, but the charges were not related to the Edinburg slayings.
Authorities linked the Tri-City Bombers and Garza to the September 2002
shootings deaths of 4 women in Donna. A jury found Garza guilty in the Donna
case.
His execution date is Sept. 19, said Ted Hake, chief of the appellate division
of the Hidalgo County District Attorney's Office.
Hake said capital murder charges were not brought against Garza in connection
to the Edinburg killings because he had already been sentenced to death in the
Donna case. He said authorities identified him as a shooter in the Edinburg
massacre.
All court appeals for Garza's death sentence were exhausted when the Supreme
Court denied his case in February. However, there is still the possibility that
his execution could be postponed or stayed.
Hake said a death warrant for Garza was expected to be delivered Friday to the
Huntsville prison, where the state carries out its executions.
3 other men involved in the Edinburg massacre also on death row: Humberto
"Gallo" Garza, 38; Rodolfo "Creeper" Medrano, 33, and Juan "Ram"
Ramirez-Navarro, 29.
According to court records, Robert Garza was among 4 men who targeted 6 women
in Donna as they left Garcia's Bar in 2002 after working their shift as bar
maids. The victims killed were Maria De La Luz Bazaldua Cobarrubias, Danitzene
Vasquez Beltran, Celina Linares Sanchez and Lurdes Araujo Torres.
State prosecutors said another TCB gang member had ordered a hit on the women,
who he believed were called to testify against him in an unrelated attempted
murder case. But, the gang members had mistakenly killed the wrong women,
authorities said.
Court records state Garza told Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office deputies of his
involvement in the crime - admitting he witnessed and knew of the plot, but not
that he fired a gun. He also told deputies another gang member had said the
assassination wasn???t carried out correctly.
A jury convicted him of the crime under the law of parties, meaning it was not
necessary to prove he fired the fatal shots. He was held equally responsible
for the murders because he was present.
EDINBURG MASSACRE
A dozen men were indicted for their alleged roles in the rural Edinburg
killings that shocked the Rio Grande Valley in 2003. Four days after the New
Year, a group of men barged into a Monte Cristo Road home wearing jackets with
the word "police" demanding money, gold, drugs and jewelry.
Humberto Garza, a former captain in the Tri-City Bombers gang, told
investigators he plotted to raid the stash house occupied by rival Texas
Chicano Brotherhood gang members, but that he had never ordered anyone killed.
The attack left the following dead: Jerry Hidalgo, Juan Delgado III, Juan
Delgado Jr., Jimmy Almendarez, Ray Castillo and Ruben Castillo, court records
state. Hidalgo's mother and brother and another man survived.
Some charged in the case pleaded guilty to serve life in prison and others like
Garza are on death row since their convictions in 2004, according to Monitor
archives. Authorities believe at least 2 others charged in the murders fled to
Mexico: Ricardo "Rica" Martinez and Juan "Perro" Nunez, archives show.
Charges against 3 men were dropped in 2006 for lack of evidence and 1 man was
acquitted, archives show.
***********************
Execution set for 1999 McAllen murder
Arturo Elizar Diaz, 37, was convicted of murdering a man he stabbed 94 times in
the chest in April 1999 inside the victim???s McAllen apartment, according to
Texas Department of Criminal Justice information. During the crime, Diaz also
stabbed a 2nd man twice in the face.
Diaz and another man went to the apartment to rob the victim and look for
drugs, the TDCJ said.
Diaz's execution date is set for Sept. 26, said Ted Hake, chief of the
appellate division of the Hidalgo County District Attorney's Office.
(source for both: The Monitor)
**************
Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-----255
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present----494
Perry #--------scheduled execution date-----name---------Tx. #
256-------------April 16------------------Ronnie Threadgill----495
257-------------April 24------------------Elroy Chester--------496
258-------------April 25----------------Richard Cobb-----------497
259------------May 7--------------------Carroll Parr---------498
260-------------May 15-------------------Jeffrey Williams-----499
261-------------May 21-------------------Robert Pruett-------500 *****
262------------June 26-------------------Kimberly McCarthy----501
263--------------July 10------------------Rigoberto Avila, Jr.----502
264-------------July 16-----------------John Quintanilla Jr.---503
265-------------July 18------------------Vaughn Ross----------504
266-------------July 31-------------------Douglas Feldman-----505
267------------Sept. 19------------------Robert Garza----------506
268------------Sept. 26-------------------Arturo Diaz-----------507
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
*********************
Austin filmmakers tackle the death penalty in animated short The Last 40 Miles
Filmmakers in Austin may not have access to the big budgets of the West Coast,
but that doesn't mean they are short on groundbreaking ideas.
The filmmakers behind The Last 40 Miles are crafting a unique vision: tackling
the death penalty in an animated short. And to see the vision through, they are
seeking funding via an Indiegogo campaign.
The Last 40 Miles tells the story of Ray, a condemned man serving out his
sentence on Texas's death row, as he travels his last 40 miles to the execution
chamber. Along the way, a kindly guard accompanies him as he looks back and
reminisces on his life.
It's a powerful story with deep roots in reality. British journalist Alex
Hannaford is the writer and director of the film, and on the film's Indiegogo
page he recounts the inspiration for the film, which comes from his
interviewing Texas death row inmates. He specifically recalls one inmate who
had been locked up in his solitary 6-foot-by-10-foot cell for all of
Hannaford's life.
"I don't think any case I had covered before or since impacted me more than
that one did," says Hannaford.
While he knew he wanted to tell the story, an animated short was not his first
idea. In a talk with CultureMap, Hannaford says, "I had an idea buzzing around
in my head for either a piece of long form journalism, or even a book. By the
time I eventually decided to put pen to paper, I'd thought it could make a good
film, but then I decided most of the 'action' would take place on a single
journey: from death row to the death chamber."
A play or short film became his primary focus - that is until he had coffee
with friend Jeff Roth, an animation professor at the Art Institute of Austin.
Roth sold Hannaford on the idea of an animated short.
Roth explained it to Hannaford by saying, "Animation can sometimes bring drama
to life in a way that live action can't. If you remove actors from the picture,
you can connect more strongly with their personalities, emotions, the drama of
the scene; allow yourself to be truly enveloped by the story."
Gathering a team of filmmakers to form Onalaska Films, Hannaford and Roth set
to work on creating and telling the story of Ray and his last 40 miles. The
team has taken things a step further by choosing to rotoscope the film (the
process when live action is traced) so that the resulting figures look almost
exactly like the original actors.
Hannaford says that the rotoscoping effect was chosen because they loved how
"the characters looked 'real' but at the same time were animated." The crew
signed a deal with Flat Black Films to create the rotoscoping, an impressive
win considering that Flat Black is the team behind other major rotoscoped film
projects such as A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life (both Richard Linklater
films).
Once completed, Hannaford hopes to start submitting the film to various film
festivals, and he hopes it starts a dialogue as well.
"I really hope it'll become a springboard for discussion...And so it'd be great
if The Last 40 Miles got people talking about the death penalty [and] about
justice in America and how it's carried out."
The Indiegogo campaign for The Last 40 Miles ends Sunday night. Funds will go
toward production and promotion costs from the film.
***************************
Lege Lines
Weighing the Scales of Justice April promises to be a month packed with
criminal justice matters to consider. Last week lawmakers heard testimony about
whether to tweak language for the criminal definition of insanity - changing
the word "know," as in "know something is wrong," to "appreciate," as in
"actually grasp the concept that something is legally wrong." The debate was,
in moments, spirited, with freshman Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, opining
that the change would make it "unduly easier" to prove insanity. That measure
was left pending by the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee - along with
perennial proposals to downgrade punishments associated with possession of
small amounts of controlled substances including cocaine and heroin. Those
measures may be smarter on crime than is the status quo, but they still face an
uphill battle.
This week lawmakers in the House considered whether to ban the death penalty
for individuals who may have been party to a crime but were not actually
directly responsible for it. (The bill was left pending in committee.)
Meanwhile, the Senate Criminal Justice Committee considered a raft of other
proposals - including Senate Bill 1292, a joint proposal by Sens. Rodney Ellis,
D-Houston, and Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, to require pretrial DNA testing of all
evidence in death penalty cases. That measure, which is backed by Attorney
General Greg Abbott, sailed out of committee Tuesday.
(source for both: Austin Chronicle)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Chesco D.A. seeks death penalty in Norco murder
A 20-year-old Norristown man accused of brutally murdering a friend for $350 in
North Coventry will face the death penalty as his case heads to trial,
according to the Chester County District Attorney's Office.
Shakeem Carter is charged with first degree murder, torture, abuse of a corpse,
arson, and a multitude of related charges in connection with the Feb. 12
slaying of 17-year-old Kevin Allen. Carter allegedly stabbed Allen more than 20
times, slit his throat, and set his body on fire inside a home belonging to the
victim's father at the Hanover Garden Apartments.
"The decision to pursue the death penalty is reserved for the most serious
crimes and is only reached after careful deliberations," said District Attorney
Tom Hogan. "After consultation with the police and the victim's family, this
decision is based upon the circumstances surrounding the murder of this young
man."
Carter was formally arraigned on charges Thursday, and prosecutors announced
that they will seek the death penalty as the case heads to trial in the Chester
County Court of Common Pleas. The district attorney's office listed three
aggravating factors that led to the decision to seek the death penalty. Those
included that the offense was committed by means of torture, during the
perpetration of a felony, and that during the murder the defendant caused grave
risk to others by setting the fire inside the apartment building.
Allen's body was discovered on after a neighbor dialed 911 to report a
"terrible struggle." Officers from the North Coventry Police Department were
the 1st to enter the apartment, but they had to retreat when they discovered
that the apartment was on fire. Firefighters were able to extinguish the
flames, but when they returned they told police there was a body inside.
Officials described a scene of horror inside the 2-bedroom apartment. Blood
covered the walls of the stairwell that led upstairs, where Allen's burned and
mutilated body was found lying face down.
(source: tricounty record)
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