Sept. 26
TEXAS----execution
South Texas man executed for 1999 slaying
A South Texas man was put to death Thursday for a slaying 14 years ago in which
the victim was bound with shoelaces and strips of bedding, stabbed 94 times and
robbed of $50.
The execution of Arturo Diaz, 37, was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court
refused a last-ditch appeal to block his lethal injection.
Diaz smiled and blew a kiss to several witnesses watching through a window,
including his mother and grandmother.
He then turned to the father of his victim, watching through an adjacent window
to the death chamber. "I hope this can bring some relief for you and your
family," he told him.
He spoke in Spanish to his own friends and relatives, telling them: "I am with
God."
He also added that he hoped his fate "serves as an example for some youngsters.
... Think about it before you do drugs."
He was pronounced dead 17 minutes later, at 6:30 p.m. CDT.
"It was way too easy," Forrest Nichols, whose son was murdered in 1999, said as
he stood watching Diaz.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials have used pentobarbital as the
single execution drug for more than a year, but Diaz became the 1st in the
state given the sedative procured from a vendor or manufacturer the prison
agency has declined to identify.
Diaz's reaction to the drug was similar to other Texas inmates who have been
executed with pentobarbital. He took several deep breaths, began snoring and
ceased movement in less than a minute.
The expiration date of the department's existing inventory passed this month,
possibly diluting its potency. Like other death penalty states, Texas officials
needed to go to nontraditional sources because the usual suppliers bowed to
pressure from capital punishment opponents and refused to make their product
available.
In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Diaz's attorney, James Terry Jr., argued
recent high court rulings allowed another look at previously unsuccessful
appeals where inmates had shoddy legal help. Diaz had deficient counsel at his
2000 trial in Hidalgo County and early in the appeals process, his attorney
said.
Diaz, from Las Milpas, a small town between McAllen and the Mexican border, was
convicted of the April 1999 slaying of Michael Nichols, 25, at Nichols'
apartment in McAllen. Diaz also was given two life terms for attempted capital
murder and aggravated robbery of another man who survived.
Cregg Thompson, the lead prosecutor at Diaz's murder trial, said evidence
showed Diaz tried to steal Nichols' pickup truck but couldn't open a locked
gate at the apartment complex. His shoe print was found on the keypad box at
the gate, and his DNA was found on a beer bottle at Nichols' apartment.
Diaz said he was high on drugs and alcohol during the attack on Nichols. He
also confessed to a slaying that took place a month earlier. In that case, the
victim's head was stomped and face beaten with a hammer. Diaz also received a
94-year prison term for aggravated sexual assault for raping a jail inmate.
"You know it's going to take some time for all the appeals and everything to go
through," Thompson said this week of Diaz's execution. "But when you say 14
years, that sounds like an awful long time."
Diaz becomes the 13th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas
and the 505th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7,
1982. Diaz becomes the 266th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since
Rick Perry became governor in 2001.
Diaz becomes the 27th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA
and the 1347th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.
(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
****************************************
Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-----266
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present----505
Perry #--------scheduled execution date-----name---------Tx. #
267-------------Oct. 9---------------------Michael Yowell-----506
268------------Oct. 16--------------------Larry Hatten-------507
269------------Oct. 29--------------------Arthur Brown------508
270------------Nov. 12---------------------Jamie McCoskey-----509
271------------Dec. 3----------------------Jerry Martin----510
272------------Jan. 16--------------------Edgardo Cubas-----511
273------------Jan. 22--------------------Edgar Tamayo-------512
274-----------Feb. 5-----------------------Suzanne Basso-------513
(sources for both: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
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