Texas executes Ramiro González after decades in death row for rape and murder

Ramiro González was executed by the state of Texas on Wednesday through lethal injection for the 2011 rape and murder of a woman in the state, local outlets reported. He is the second person to be executed by the state this year so far.

González was killed with a lethal dose of pentobarital and pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m., the state's Department of Criminal Justice said. He was already serving a life sentence for the abduction and rape of another woman in 2002 when he confessed to the same crime of a Texas woman, Bridget Townsend, in Medina County, west of San Antonio, and told police where her remains were.

The crime took place in 2001, when both González and the victim were 18 years old and after she tried to prevent him from stealing drugs at her boyfriend's house. The execution day would have been Townsend's 41st birthday.

González had sought to reduce his sentence and said he was not eligible for execution because an expert recanted a testimony about him being a future danger to others, a requirement for receiving death penalty in Texas. He also sought leniency due to her mother's alcohol use when she was pregnant with him and sexual abuse suffered as a child.

He also said that he had devoted his life to Christianity and served as a spiritual leader for others on death row since 2006. The Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously rejected the request.

González issued a final statement in which he apologized to Townsend's family and thanked his loved ones and prison administrators for "the opportunity to become responsible, to learn accountability and to make good." He added that his life on death row had the purpose of making restitution and being responsible 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."

Townsend's mother, on her end, told USA Today that the execution was a "joyful occasion" for her and that she planned to attend, adding that González's childhood trauma was no excuse for the crime against 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.