Miguel Paredes was executed by the State of Texas for a triple murder
According to court documents Miguel Paredes and accomplices went to a home to collect on a drug debt and would end up fatally shooting three people inside of the home: Nelly Bravo and Shawn Michael Cain, both 23, and Adrian Torres, 27.
Miguel Paredes was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Miguel Paredes would be executed by lethal injection on October 28 2014
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When Was Miguel Paredes Executed
Miguel Paredes was executed on October 28 2014
Miguel Paredes Case
A former gang member was put to death on Tuesday night for the fatal shootings of three rivals 14 years ago in San Antonio.
Miguel Paredes, 32, was convicted along with two other men of the murders in September 2000 of three people with ties to the Mexican mafia. The victims’ bodies were rolled up in a carpet,dumped and set on fire.
Parades was pronounced dead at 6.54pm CDT. The execution was carried out after the US supreme court turned down a last-day appeal from attorneys who argued that Paredes was mentally impaired and his previous lawyers were deficient for not investigating his mental history.
His execution was the 10th this year in Texas, the nation’s most active death penalty state. One other Texas inmate is scheduled to die in December and at least nine are scheduled for execution in early 2015,.
aredes’ attorney, David Dow, said the execution should have been stopped because Paredes had “a significant mental disease” that may have affected his judgment when he told his previous lawyer 10 years ago not to investigate his family background.
In a response filed on Tuesday morning, state lawyers said Paredes “presented no evidence that he is or ever has been mentally ill or incompetent,” and that his earlier attorney could not be considered deficient when he “abided by Paredes’ explicit instructions”. Lower courts sided with the state, which noted that the latest appeal was filed after a deadline.
Prosecutors said Paredes, who turned 18 six weeks before the killings, was the most aggressive gunman when the three victims showed up to collect drug money.
They told jurors at his capital murder trial in 2001 that Paredes was suspected of several other crimes, including killings and drive-by shootings. Paredes was convicted of fatally shooting Nelly Bravo and Shawn Michael Cain, both 23, and Adrian Torres, 27. Prosecutors said the three were shot when they tried to collect drug money at the home of John Anthony Saenz, a leader in Paredes’ gang.
“Evidence showed Miguel seemed to be the most aggressive and an active shooter,” said Mary Green, the Bexar County district attorney who prosecuted Paredes.
Police got a break in the case when paperwork carrying Saenz’s name was found in the debris with the three burning bodies.
Saenz, 32, claimed self-defence at his trial and avoided the death penalty when jurors sentenced him to life. The third suspect, Greg Alvarado, 35, pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/29/miguel-paredes-texas-death-penalty
