Texas: Man who raped and murdered woman in 2001 executed via lethal injection
Ramiro Gonzales was sentenced to death in 2006. He becomes the second criminal to receive this sentence in Texas so far this year.
Ramiro Gonzales was executed Wednesday in Texas for the 2001 murder of Bridget Townsend.
The state of Texas executed a man Wednesday who was convicted of the rape and murder of a woman in 2001.
Five years later, in 2006, Ramiro Gonzales was convicted and sentenced to capital punishment for raping and murdering Bridget Townsend when they were both 18.
Gonzales, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. local time. He was executed by lethal injection. However, he was allowed to make a final statement in which, AFP reports, he apologized to those close to Bridget Townsend:
"To the Townsend family, I am sorry I cannot speak, I cannot express in words the pain I have caused you all, the damage, what I took from you and cannot give back."
In January 2001, Gonzales kidnapped, raped and shot Townsend, who was the girlfriend of his drug dealer.
The case remained unsolved for 18 months until Gonzales confessed to the crime while in custody for another rape case. He also told authorities where to find Townsend's remains.
Gonzales' attorney had sought a stay of his execution before the U.S. Supreme Court, but it was denied Wednesday.
Gonzales' is the second execution in Texas in 2024 and the eighth in the United States, a country where 24 convicts were given capital punishment in 2023, all by lethal injection.
A total of 23 of the country's 50 states abolished the death penalty, while the governors of six others-- Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee--suspended its application.
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