(Huntsville) A Texas man who admitted to kidnapping, sexually assaulting and shooting an 18-year-old woman in 2001 was executed Wednesday evening.
Ramiro Gonzales, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. following a chemical injection at Huntsville State Penitentiary for the January 2001 murder of Bridget Townsend, authorities said.
Mr. Gonzales kidnapped Ms. Townsend from a rural home in Bandera County, northwest of San Antonio. He then took her to the family ranch in neighboring Medina County, where he sexually assaulted her before killing her.
Her body was not found until October 2002, when Mr. Gonzales led authorities to her remains in southwest Texas after being sentenced to two life sentences for the kidnapping and rape of another woman.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the defense’s request to intervene about an hour and a half before the execution was scheduled to begin. She rejected arguments from Mr. Gonzales’ lawyers that he had taken responsibility for his actions and that an expert witness for the prosecution now says he was wrong to testify that the man would pose a future danger to society, a legal conclusion necessary to pronounce a death sentence.
“He devoted himself seriously to self-improvement, contemplation and prayer, and became a mature, peaceful, kind, loving and deeply religious adult. He acknowledges responsibility for his crimes and has sought to atone for them and seek redemption through his actions,” Mr. Gonzales’s lawyers wrote Monday in their unsuccessful request for a stay of execution to the Supreme Court.
Earlier this month, a group of 11 evangelical leaders from Texas and across the country asked the parole board and Gov. Greg Abbott to halt the execution and grant clemency because Mr. Gonzalez was helping others sentenced to death through a faith-based program.
In a video submitted as part of his application to the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, Mr. Gonzales admitted responsibility.
“I just want Bridget Townsend’s mother to know how truly sorry I am. I took everything that was of value to her,” said Mr. Gonzales, who was 18 at the time. “Every day it’s an ongoing task to do everything I can to feel that responsibility for the life I’ve taken. »
The victim’s brother was not convinced. In various petitions and posts on Change.org, David Townsend has criticized efforts to portray Mr. Gonzales as anything other than a convicted murderer who committed “unforgivable acts.”
“Our family is not seeking revenge, but seeking closure and some peace after years of grief – a quest that is hindered, but not facilitated, by decisions that allow the perpetrator of our pain to remain in the public eye,” he wrote.
On Monday, the parole board voted 7-0 against commuting Mr. Gonzales’ death sentence to a lesser sentence. The deputies also refused to grant him a six-month reprieve.
Prosecutors described Mr. Gonzales as a sexual predator who told police he ignored Ms. Townsend’s pleas to spare his life. They argued that jurors made the right decision regarding the death sentence because he had a long criminal history and showed no remorse.
The execution of Ramiro Gonzales was the second this year in Texas and the eighth in the United States.
Oklahoma is expected to execute Richard Rojem on Thursday for the 1984 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl.
