A Texas death row inmate was executed Thursday through deadly injection, simply over 22 years after killing a 5-year-old lady he kidnapped from a retail retailer and strangled to dying, in keeping with the Texas Division of Corrections.
Regardless of repeated makes an attempt by his protection attorneys to halt the method, David Renteria, 53, turned the eighth inmate to be put to dying this yr by the state.
Texas Division of Corrections spokesperson Robert Hurst advised Fox Information Digital that the deadly injection course of started at 7 p.m., and that Renteria was pronounced lifeless at 7:11 p.m. on the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville.
The state of Texas discontinued final meal requests in 2011 Hurst stated, and that the employees members who would know Renteria’s ultimate meal had been “throughout the road coping with the cleanup” after the execution.
Renteria’s mom and religious advisor regarded on from one viewing chamber of the state’s execution chamber on the Huntsville Unit facility, Hurst stated — members of the family of Alexandra Flora, the dying row inmate’s sufferer, regarded on from one other.
In his final phrases, Renteria advised the Flores household that “not a day goes by that [he] doesn’t take into consideration that fateful occasion… and what transpired,” referring to killing their daughter then burning her physique on Nov. 18, 2001.
“I pray that the Lord offers you peace,” Renteria stated. “There aren’t any phrases to explain what you’re going by means of, and I perceive your ache.”
“I’m a person of many faults,” he continued. “For many who I’ve harm and triggered ache of their life, I urge for forgiveness.”
Renteria stated he “forgave” those that “known as for [his] dying and transgressed in opposition to [him] and wish [him] murdered.”
“Like Abraham Lincoln stated as soon as, mercy bears richer fruits than some other attributes,” he stated. “I’ve realized there is no such thing as a redemption above forgiveness.”
“I am prepared, Warden,” had been Renteria’s ultimate phrases. “Ship me dwelling.”
Lower than three hours earlier than Renteria was scheduled to be executed, his attorneys tried to remain his execution, in keeping with the Associated Press.
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The Texas Court docket of Legal Appeals rejected the keep request with out remark, whereas the Supreme Court docket rejected one other enchantment to cease the execution.
Prosecutors say that 5-year-old Flores was Christmas purchasing along with her household at an El Paso Walmart, when Renteria, then 31, kidnapped the kid, the Associated Press reported on the time.
The person searched the shop earlier than choosing Flores as his victim, prosecutors stated, and grainy surveillance video exhibits her following him out of the shop. Her charred physique was recovered about 16 miles from the shop the following day.
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Renteria, a former warehouse employee, claims that members of a gang known as Barrio Azteca — particularly a gang member named “Flaco” — pressured him to kidnap the kid with threats to his household.
Renteria’s protection staff reportedly has pointed to witness statements from a lady who claimed her ex-husband was a member of Barrio Azteca and was concerned within the dying of a woman who went lacking from a Walmart, launched in 2018 and 2020 by El Paso police.
A federal choose dismissed these statements as “fraught with inaccuracies” in 2018, and was “inadequate to indicate Renteria’s innocence.”
Blood prints discovered on Renteria’s van matched the slain kid’s DNA, prosecutors stated, and the person’s palm print was discovered on a plastic bag positioned over the lady’s head earlier than she was lit on fireplace.
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In 2006, a state district courtroom blocked an earlier dying sentence for Renteria on the grounds that prosecutors allegedly gave jurors deceptive proof that indicated the person was not remorseful.
However in a 2008 retrial, Renteria was once more sentenced to dying.
Renteria was already a convicted sex offender when he carried out his alleged crime, per the Texas Division of Corrections — he had served a 20-year-long jail sentence for indecency with a toddler in El Paso County.