Robert Salazar was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of 2 year old Adriana Gomez
According to court documents Robert Salazar would beat to death two year old Adriana Gomez. The little girl was discovered by her mother inside of her home
Robert Salazar would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Robert Salazar would be executed by lethal injection on March 22 2006
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When Was Robert Salazar Executed
Robert Salazar was executed on March 22 2006
Robert Salazar Case
A Lubbock man was executed tonight for the April 1997 beating death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.
To everybody on both sides of that wall, I want you to know that I love you both,'' Robert Salazar Jr., said in a final statement, acknowledging his family and Adriana Gomez's mother and other relatives who were there as witnesses. He looked toward his family during his remarks.I am sorry that the child had to lose her life, but I should not have to be here. Tell my family I love them all and I will see them in heaven. Come home when you can.”
Salazar was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m., seven minutes after the lethal dose began to flow. Salazar, 27, was the sixth prisoner put to death this year in Texas and the second of four scheduled this month in the nation’s busiest capital punishment state.
Salazar told police he just wanted Adriana, whom he was baby-sitting, to stop crying. So he pushed her with the back of his hand, causing her to fall down in a bathtub and hit her head. I did not mean to hurt Adriana,'' Salazar told police in a statement after his arrest for the girl's death in her Lubbock home.I don’t want people to think I’m a bad person for what I did.” But authorities said Salazar did more than push the toddler. In a violent rage, he inflicted injuries on Adriana that a pathologist who testified at his trial said were worse than those suffered by victims of auto accidents.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday rejected requests to commute Salazar’s sentence to life or halt the execution. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down requests by Salazar’s attorney, Michael Charlton, to stop the execution based on claims the inmate is mentally retarded. There were no appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Authorities said Salazar delivered at least three life-threatening injuries to the girl: a blow to the head that left it feeling like gelatin, a blow to her chest that left her heart on the verge of rupturing and a blow to her abdomen that pushed internal organs against her backbone. “Salazar destroyed that little girl’s body, just destroyed it,” said Rusty Ladd, who helped prosecute the case for the Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office.
Salazar began dating Adriana’s mother, Raylene Blakeburn, in 1996. He took care of the toddler while her mother worked. Blakeburn told authorities Salazar had abused her daughter several other times. After beating her, Salazar left Adriana in the crib at her Lubbock home and went to his mother’s house to drink beer with a friend. Adriana’s mother found her when she got home from work and took her to a hospital, where she died a few hours later.
Salazar, 18 at the time of his crime, refused a request from The Associated Press for an interview in the weeks before his scheduled execution. Philip Wischkaemper, Salazar’s defense attorney during his 1999 trial, said the inmate’s mental retardation is behind his lack of remorse. He also said Salazar was severely abused and neglected as a child by his father. The mental retardation issue was not brought up during Salazar’s trial. “We know mentally retarded people have difficulty showing emotion,” said Wischkaemper, who added tests have shown that Salazar’s IQ is probably under 75. The threshold for mental retardation is 70.
In 2002, the Supreme Court barred executions of the mentally retarded, on grounds they violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Wade Jackson, first assistant district attorney for Lubbock County, said other tests have shown that Salazar’s IQ is as high as 102.
Wischkaemper said Salazar was condemned partly because jurors at his trial were misinformed by someone on the panel that he could have been released on parole in 20 to 25 years instead of the actual 40 if sentenced to life in prison.
Ladd, now a judge in Lubbock, said it was the brutal nature of the crime that ultimately determined the jury’s decision. “I’ve never shed tears over a victim the way I did over that little girl,” Ladd said.
Next on the execution schedule is Raymond Martinez, condemned for the 1983 shooting death of a Houston bar owner during a robbery. He is set to be executed Tuesday.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/3740280.html
