The 43-year-old was given a lethal injection and is the fourth death row inmate executed since the beginning of the year in the US.
American on which the death penalty for killing a police officer was executed Wednesday in Texas, despite protests from the defense that his trial was tainted by racial bias and should be overturned.
Wesley Ruiz, 43, Hispanic, was given a lethal injection at the Huntsville jail and pronounced dead at 6:41 p.m. (local time).
He became the fourth death row inmate executed in the US since the beginning of the year.
“I’m ready to go,” were his last words.
In 2007 in Dallas, he was chased by police, who suspected that his car had been used in a homicide.
During the chase, he fired once at a police officer who was attempting to break the car window with a baton. The bullet killed the policeman.
At his trial, Wesley Ruiz said he feared for his life and fired “in self-defense,” according to press reports. The jury found no mitigating circumstances; he was sentenced to death.
In the years that followed, his attorneys filed—in vain—repeated appeals challenging the conviction.
As his execution date approached, they filed an emergency motion, arguing that jurors were biased by “blatantly racist” views and relied on “stereotypes clearly hostile to Latinos” when deciding on the defendant’s “dangerousness.”
One called him an “animal,” a “mad dog,” and claimed that other Hispanics in the trial were “gang members,” they argued in their appeal.
But the appeal was rejected in order at first instance, in the appeal and ended up in the Supreme Court.
In addition, Wesley Ruiz joined a lawsuit by death row inmates in Texas who say authorities have let the expiration date of the chemicals they use in executions pass.
They say in the lawsuit that this could cause them severe pain, which is illegal given that the US Constitution expressly prohibits “inhumane punishment.”
State authorities counter that their stockpiles of pentobarbitol pose no problem.
RES-EMP
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
