Post by carolinem on Mar 11, 2009 20:21:10 GMT -5
Appeals to sentence turned down; another execution slated for Wednesday.
Wed, Mar 11, 2009
AFP
WASHINGTON - Texas on Tuesday executed its 11th inmate so far this year, when James Edward Martinez was put to death by lethal injection for the 2000 murder of a former girlfriend and her companion.
Martinez, 34, was pronounced dead at 6:17 pm (2317 GMT), 14 minutes after he was administered the lethal concoction at the Huntsville penitentiary, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said.
Nine minutes before he passed, Martinez thanked his mother and sister, who were looking on, for everything they did for him.
"I hope you can move on after this. I'll be fine. I'll be OK. I love you too. I love you too. Take care OK. That's all I have to say Warden. Thank you sir."
Martinez was convicted in 2002 for the double murder two years earlier of Sandra Walton, 29, with whom he had maintained a brief relationship and he claimed owed him some money, and Michael Humphreys, 19, outside her apartment in Fort Worth, Texas.
Both were shot several times with a rifle. Police later found in a storage unit belonging to Martinez a cache of weapons, ammunition and books on how to kill people, including "21 Techniques of Silent Killing," and "How to Dispose of a Dead Body."
During his trial, Martinez insisted he was not guilty and that an
acquaintance of his who had access to his rifle could have been the murderer.
He filed several appeals to his sentence, claiming he had proof of an alibi, but was turned down. On October 16, the US Supreme Court refused to hear his final appeal.
With a 12th lethal injection scheduled for Wednesday, Texas is the US state with most executions, 434, since 1976, when the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment.