Ramon Pedro Hernandez was executed by the State of Texas for a murder committed during a robbery
According to court documents Ramon Pedro Hernandez would rob a gas station and in the process would shoot and kill the manager
Ramon Pedro Hernandez would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Ramon Pedro Hernandez was executed by lethal injection on January 30 1987
Ramon Pedro Hernandez Photos
Ramon Pedro Hernandez FAQ
When was Ramon Pedro Hernandez executed
Ramon Pedro Hernandez was executed on January 30 1987
How was Ramon Pedro Hernandez executed
Ramon Pedro Hernandez was executed by lethal injection
Ramon Pedro Hernandez Case
In the nation’s first execution this year, Ramon Hernandez, who likely ‘hastened’ his death by opposing appeals on his behalf, died by injection today for killing a night watchman during a failed robbery.
Hernandez, 44, was put to death by injection at 1:13 a.m. CST today on his first execution date — becoming the first Texas inmate to die on the orginally scheduled day since the state resumed capital punishement in 1982.
The execution came less than a half hour after the Supreme Court denied a stay for Hernandez, who opposed all appeal efforts on his behalf.
‘I think there was a strong likelihood a stay would have been granted had he been willing to participate,’ Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox said. ‘I think he hastened the procedure.’
Hernandez appeared calm before his execution and mouthed ‘I love you’ when his personal witnesses — his common-law wife Velma Hernandez and friend Pedro Velardez — entered the death chamber.
Asked if he had a final statement, Hernandez said, ‘Only to my wife, that I love her and to my kids.’
He then turned to his wife.
‘I’ll always love you, you know that,’ he said. ‘That’s it.’
The execution was delayed when officials had difficulty locating a vein in which to insert a needle. After the lethal drugs were administered, Hernandez looked to the ceiling and breathed heavily twice, as if trying to hold in air. He was dead eight minutes later.
Hernandez’s execution was the first this year and the 21st in the state since 1982. Texas has carried out more executions than any other state in the 10 years since capital punishment was resumed. It was the 69th execution in the United States since 1977.
Hernandez’s mood Thursday was described as calm as he visited with his common-law wife, his mother and two sons and ate a last meal of tacos, an enchilada, a jalapeno pepper, hot sauce and coffee, prison spokesman David Nunnelee said.
The Supreme Court denied a petition seeking a stay for Hernandez at 12:45 a.m. CST after the U.S. District Court in Marfa and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans denied appeals.
Hernandez had acted as his own attorney and rejected seeking stays, but two American Civil Liberties lawyers intervened hours before he was to die.
Mattox said Hernandez probably could have received a stay if he wanted one.
‘He said he was afraid, but that he was ready to get it over with,’ Mattox said. ‘He asked whether the court were informed the lawyers were acting without his consent. I told him his position was represented.’
Hernandez was convicted in the June 20, 1980, shooting death of Oscar Martin Fraire, 33, of Juarez, Mexico, a live-in night watchman at an El Paso service station. According to trial testimony, Hernandez fled without any money.
Hernandez, whose police record lists crimes ranging from possessing marijuana to deadly assault and assault with a knife, said Wednesday he was resigned to die to highlight inequities in the criminal justice system.
‘My life is insignificant. If I’m going to be executed, I feel I know exactly what I’m doing,’ Hernandez said. ‘But I’m not an animal. I fear death.’
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/01/30/Nations-first-1987-execution-in-Texas/1944538981200/