A Texas inmate convicted of strangling a 5-year-old lady taken from an El Paso retailer after which burning her physique almost 22 years in the past is scheduled for execution Thursday night.
David Renteria, 53, was condemned for the November 2001 loss of life of Alexandra Flores. Prosecutors mentioned that Alexandra was Christmas buying along with her household at a Walmart retailer when she was kidnapped by Renteria. Her physique was discovered the following day in an alley 16 miles from the shop.
Renteria has lengthy claimed that members of the Barrio Azteca gang, together with one named “Flaco,” compelled him to take the lady by making threats to his household — and that it was the gang members who killed her.
TEXAS DEATH ROW INMATE SPEAKS OUT AFTER ‘SHOCKING’ LAST-MINUTE STAY OF EXECUTION
This picture launched by the Texas Division of Legal Justice exhibits loss of life row inmate David Renteria. Renteria, a Texas inmate convicted of strangling a 5-year-old lady taken from an El Paso retailer after which burning her physique almost 22 years in the past is dealing with execution. Renteria is scheduled to obtain a deadly injection on Nov. 16, 2023, on the state penitentiary in Huntsville. (Texas Division of Legal Justice through AP)
ALABAMA TO BE FIRST STATE TO EXECUTE PRISONER USING PURE NITROGEN, SETTING OFF DEBATE ON DEATH PENALTY METHODS
Authorities say Renteria’s attorneys didn’t elevate this protection at his trial and proof within the case exhibits that he dedicated the kidnapping and killing alone. Prosecutors mentioned that blood present in Renteria’s van matched the slain lady’s DNA. His palm print was discovered on a plastic bag that was put over her head earlier than her physique was set on hearth. Prosecutors mentioned Renteria was a convicted intercourse offender on probation on the time of the killing.
Renteria’s scheduled execution is one among two set to be carried out within the U.S. on Thursday. In Alabama, Casey McWhorter is ready to obtain a deadly injection for fatally capturing a person throughout a 1993 theft.
Attorneys for Renteria have filed unsuccessful appeals asking state and federal courts to halt the execution, which is ready happen on the state penitentiary in Huntsville. A remaining attraction to the U.S. Supreme Court docket was anticipated after appeals to a decrease court docket concluded.
Renteria’s attorneys argue they’ve been denied entry to the prosecution’s file on Renteria, which they argued violates his constitutional rights. His authorized crew mentioned the prosecution hindered their capability to research Renteria’s claims that gang members have been chargeable for the lady’s loss of life.
The claims by Renteria’s attorneys are based mostly on witness statements launched by El Paso police in 2018 and 2020 wherein a lady informed investigators that her ex-husband, a Barrio Azteca member, was concerned within the loss of life of a lady who had gone lacking from a Walmart.
Renteria “will likely be executed regardless of not too long ago uncovered proof of precise innocence, proof that he’s harmless of the loss of life penalty,” Tivon Schardl, one of many protection attorneys, mentioned in court docket paperwork.
A federal decide in 2018 mentioned that the lady’s assertion was “fraught with inaccuracies” and was “inadequate to point out Renteria’s innocence.”
In August, state District Choose Monique Reyes in El Paso granted a request to remain the execution and ordered prosecutors to show over their information within the case.
The Texas Court docket of Legal Appeals later overturned Reyes’ orders.
On Tuesday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 7-0 towards commuting Renteria’s loss of life sentence to a lesser penalty. Members additionally rejected granting a six-month reprieve.
SOUTH CAROLINA OBTAINS LETHAL INJECTION DRUGS TO CARRY OUT DEATH PENALTY AGAIN AFTER DECADE-LONG HIATUS
Renteria was accused of patrolling the shop for about 40 minutes earlier than zeroing in on the 5-year-old lady, the youngest of eight youngsters in her household. The grainy surveillance video confirmed her following Renteria out of the shop.
In 2006, the Texas Court docket of Legal Appeals threw out Renteria’s loss of life sentence, saying prosecutors supplied deceptive proof that gave jurors the impression Renteria was not remorseful. Renteria’s attorneys had argued {that a} assertion he made to police after his arrest — wherein he expressed sympathy for the lady’s household and that her loss of life was “a tragedy that ought to by no means have occurred” — was an expression of regret. The appeals court docket mentioned Renteria’s expression of regret was “made within the context of minimizing his duty for the offense.”
Throughout a brand new resentencing trial in 2008, Renteria was once more sentenced to loss of life.
Renteria could be the eighth inmate in Texas to be put to loss of life this yr. If Renteria and McWhorter each obtain a deadly injection Thursday, there could be 23 executions this yr within the U.S.
#Execution #looms #loss of life #row #inmate #convicted #abduction #homicide