HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A convicted killer in Texas was executed Tuesday for fatally shooting another man in a robbery that yielded $8.
No late appeals were filed for Juan Martin Garcia, who was lethally injected for the September 1998 killing and robbery of Hugo Solano in Houston. Solano, a Christian missionary from Guadalajara, Mexico, had moved his family to the city just weeks earlier so his children could be educated in the U.S.
Garcia, 35, apologized in Spanish to Solano's relatives in the moments before the execution. Solano's wife and daughter sobbed and told the inmate they loved him.
"The harm that I did to your dad and husband -- I hope this brings you closure," he said from the death chamber gurney, his voice breaking. "I never wanted to hurt any of you all."
He told his sister and several friends in English that he loved them.
"No matter what, remember my promise," Garcia said. "No matter what, I will always be with you."
As the dose of pentobarbital began, he winced, raised his head and then shook it. He gurgled once and snored once before his movement stopped. He was pronounced dead 12 minutes later.
Afterward, Solano's wife, Ana, said she wished the execution had not taken place and that she accepted Garcia's apology because it came "from his heart."
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review Garcia's case in March. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a clemency request from him last week. The execution was the 11th this year in Texas.
Evidence at the 2000 trial and testimony from a companion identified Garcia, who was 18 at the time of the killing and a street gang member, as the ringleader of four men involved in Solano's shooting and robbery early Sept. 17, 1998.
Eleazar Mendoza, who was sentenced to 55 years in prison for aggravated robbery, testified that Garcia approached Solano and pointed a gun. Mendoza said Garcia ordered Solano to surrender his money, then shot him when he refused.
Another defendant, Raymond McBen, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for aggravated robbery and paroled a year ago.
The fourth man charged, Gabriel Morales, was given a life sentence for capital murder.
A Section on 10/07/2015