Texas judge rejects prosecutor’s attempt to stop execution of John Ramirez

Sign up for The Brief, our every day e-newsletter that retains readers up to pace on essentially the most important Texas news.

A Texas state district judge on Tuesday rejected a prosecutor’s request to cancel the scheduled October execution of John Ramirez, whose demise last year was halted in part of a yearslong back-and-forth between the Texas jail system and the U.S. Supreme Court over spiritual rights of condemned prisoners.

Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez sought to have the execution canceled, saying one of his workers wrongfully requested a court docket to set the date in April, after the nation’s excessive court docket directed the state jail system to let the prisoner’s pastor contact and pray over him at his execution. Gonzalez mentioned he’s ethically opposed to the demise penalty and didn’t need an execution warrant for Ramirez issued.

Along with Ramirez’s protection legal professional, he sought to withdraw the brand new execution date two days after it was requested.

But in a Zoom listening to Tuesday, state District Judge Bobby Galvan mentioned Gonzalez is “the captain of the ship,” and what his workers does is on him.

“I’ve really thought about this a lot,” Galvan mentioned. “I respect y’all’s opinion on this, but I’m not going to withdraw the warrant.”

Gonzalez argued that, because the county’s elected prosecutor, he has the authority to request the cancellation.

“The main issues in this motion, your honor, are that the only legitimate voice for the state of Texas would be my office,” he mentioned.

After the ruling, Ramirez’s legal professional, Seth Kretzer, mentioned it was unprecedented for a judge to deny a movement to withdraw a demise warrant that has the assist of the prosecution and the protection.

Gonzalez has been district legal professional since 2016, and his workplace beforehand requested execution dates for Ramirez 3 times — in 2017, 2020 and 2021. The prosecutor’s workplace requested to halt the 2020 date as a result of of the pandemic, and the opposite two had been stopped by appeals courts. Gonzalez didn’t instantly return calls Tuesday.

Ramirez, 37, was sentenced to demise in Corpus Christi for the theft and homicide of retailer clerk Pablo Castro in 2004. Court information state Ramirez stabbed Castro 29 occasions throughout a theft spree to get drug cash with two ladies. Castro had $1.25 on him.

A earlier execution date for Ramirez was delayed while he contested the jail system’s refusal to permit a pastor to contact and pray over him as he was executed. Ultimately, the nation’s excessive court docket determined in an 8-1 ruling in March that Texas doubtless violated Ramirez’s spiritual liberties when it denied his request.

After Texas Department of Criminal Justice officers mentioned after they might abide by the ruling, the trail was clear for Nueces County officers to set a brand new execution date for Ramirez.

An assistant district legal professional filed the paperwork in April, and Galvan set a brand new date for Oct. 5. But two days later, Gonzalez moved to withdraw the date. He mentioned his worker by no means checked with him earlier than transferring ahead with an execution, and it was his “firm belief that the death penalty is unethical and should not be imposed on Mr. Ramirez or any other person” whereas he was in workplace.

Execution dates have been scheduled and withdrawn primarily based on native prosecutors’ requests previously, for issues like paperwork errors. In Ramirez’s case, nevertheless, the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the sufferer’s household additionally weighed in.

In a letter to the Nueces County state district court docket, the chief of the legal professional normal’s felony division argued that the district court docket can’t withdraw a pending execution date as a result of of a prosecutor’s “shifting ethical position.” Several of Castro’s kids additionally submitted a short to Galvan, asking to permit the execution to proceed as a result of “they have endured delay after delay in seeing justice finally served.”

“I want my father to finally have his justice as well as the peace to finally move on with my life and let this nightmare be over,” Fernando Castro, who was 11 on the time his father was killed, was quoted as saying in a single temporary.

Kretzer mentioned he and Gonzalez will enchantment Galvan’s ruling to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, because the judge seemingly inspired to get clarification on his function within the course of of setting execution dates.

Join us Sept. 22-24 in particular person in downtown Austin for The Texas Tribune Festival and expertise 100+ dialog occasions that includes huge names you already know and others it’s best to from the worlds of politics, public coverage, the media and tech — all curated by The Texas Tribune’s award-winning journalists. Buy tickets.