Texas executes Ramiro Gonzales for 2001 murder

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The State of Texas executed Ramiro Gonzales by lethal injection on Wednesday for a 2001 rape and murder he committed when he was 18, making him the second person to be executed in the state this year.

Gonzales was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital at 6:26 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m., according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

While serving a life sentence for the abduction and rape of another woman, Florence Teich, in 2002, Gonzales confessed to the rape and murder of Bridget Townsend in Medina County, west of San Antonio, and guided police to her remains. Gonzales kidnapped, sexually assaulted and fatally shot Townsend in 2001 when both were 18 years old after she intervened while he was trying to steal drugs at the home of her boyfriend, who was his drug dealer, according to court records.

Wednesday would have been Townsend's 41st birthday.

In his final statement, Gonzales made a last apology to Townsend's family and said he regretted the pain he caused them. He thanked his loved ones and prison administrators for "the opportunity to become responsible, to learn accountability and to make good." And he said he had lived his life on death row with the goal of making restitution and taking responsibility for his actions.

"To the Townsend family, I’m sorry. I can’t articulate —I can’t put into words the pain I have caused y’all, the hurt, what I took away that I cannot give back," he said. "I never stopped praying for all of you. I never stopped praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would have this opportunity to apologize. I owe all of you my life."

In recent pleadings, Gonzales sought to reduce his sentence to life in prison, arguing that he never received a proper post-conviction review and that he was ineligible for capital punishment since a state expert recanted testimony that he would pose a future danger to others — a finding that is required to receive the death penalty under Texas state law. His latest legal challenges were based in part on his mother’s alcohol use while she was pregnant with him and the sexual abuse he suffered as a child.

Townsend's mother, Patricia Townsend, told USA Today over the weekend that Gonzales' execution would be a "joyful occasion" that she planned to attend, driving four hours from her home in San Antonio to the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville. Gonzales' childhood trauma, she said, was no excuse for what he did to her daughter.

"I don’t feel sorry for him at all, and I don’t want other people to feel sorry for him," she said.

In a clemency application, Gonzales said that he had devoted his life to Christianity and served as a spiritual leader for others facing the death penalty while on death row since 2006. On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously rejected Gonzales’ request for leniency.

"Ramiro knew he took something from this world he could never give back," Gonzales' legal team said in a statement after his death. "He lived with that shame every day, and it shaped the person he worked so hard to become. If this country’s legal system was intended to encourage rehabilitation, he would be an exemplar. Ramiro grew. Ramiro changed. May we all strive to do the same."

A pleading filed this month by Gonzales’ legal team challenging his death sentence asserted that he didn’t receive effective counsel during his post-conviction review. His petition for that review was deemed “frivolous” by the courts.

Gonzales’ court-appointed lawyer at the time did not conduct an investigation and failed to present evidence in the petition that Gonzales’ mother regularly drank alcohol during her pregnancy, Gonzales' legal team said in a June pleading. Gonzales was later diagnosed with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The initial petition also failed to outline the impact of sexual abuse by a family member that Gonzales endured throughout his childhood, according to court filings.

Gonzales never had the “one full and fair opportunity” to file an adequate habeas petition, Posel said.

Such a deficient initial petition would not happen today, Posel added, now that attorneys and investigators from the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, which opened in 2010, are available for nearly all capital post-conviction cases.

Gonzales’ pleading this month cited research about his childhood conducted by Kate Porterfield, a clinical psychologist who studies the impact of trauma on children.

“The crimes that he committed are tragically and inextricably linked to the trauma he suffered and the lack of care provided to him,” Porterfield said of Gonzales’ childhood.

The failure to properly investigate and present this evidence during Gonzales’ initial habeas petition showed that his lawyer was ineffective, his legal team argued while asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its dismissal. The state’s highest criminal court denied the request on Monday.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier on Wednesday denied a request by Gonzales' legal team for a review of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision and for a stay of Gonzales' execution. Gonzales' legal team had argued in their petition to the nation's highest court that Gonzales does not present a future danger to others and so cannot be executed under Texas law.

In his clemency application, Gonzales said he felt daily remorse for his actions and the impact the killing had on Townsend’s family.

“I took everything that was valuable from a mother, just because of my stupidity, because of what I did, because of my actions. And you can’t give that back,” Gonzales said in a video submitted to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on June 4 as part of his clemency application.

In 2022, Gonzales requested a reprieve to donate a kidney to a stranger, which was denied. That same year, the court halted Gonzales’ execution to consider the false testimony by Dr. Edward Gripon, a forensic psychiatrist.

During the punishment phase of Gonzales’ trial, Gripon had testified that there was substantial evidence that people who commit rape will likely continue committing sexual offenses. Gripon later reported that those statistics are inaccurate. State courts ruled that despite the reversal, the execution could take place.

Gonzales’ attorneys had also attempted to halt his execution because of his age at the time of the crime. They cited multiple studies and medical or legal associations that have proposed raising the age for death penalty eligibility from 18 to 21, based on brain development.

Alongside his clemency application, a group of faith leaders had sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, asking him to spare Gonzales’ life and allow him to spend the rest of his life serving others in custody.

“Even if he never sees the light of day as a free person, he can bring that inner light to others in the darkest corners of our society just by being there and sharing the faith he has,” said Cantor Michael Zoosman, co-founder of L'chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty, in the clemency video.

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