Texas Executes Mexican National Who Killed His Family

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Texas executed Robert Moreno Ramos by lethal injection on Wednesday night despite advocates' protests his arrest and subsequent sentence violated international treaties.

Ramos, 64, was convicted of capital murder in March 1993 for the February 1992 killings of his wife, Leticia, 42, and their two children, Abigail, 7, and Jonathon, 3, in HIdalgo County, according to reports. A Mexican national, Ramos beat his wife and children with a small sledgehammer before burying their bodies under the bathroom floor of the family home in Progreso, Texas, prosecutors proved in court.

By all accounts, Ramos was not a good man. For one, he had been having an affair and married the woman a mere three days after the killings. During the sentencing phase of his trial, his own 19-year-old son testified against him while detailing the physical and verbal abuse Ramos inflicted on him, according to the Texas Tribune. A woman testified Ramos was likely responsible for the disappearance of her daughter, who married Ramos in 1988 in Reynosa, Mexico, and had not been seen by family members since 1989.

The fact Ramos was not a good person was not in dispute. What is, however, is if his trial violated international treaty provisions. As the Texas Tribune noted, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations mandates that when an immigrant is arrested and held in detention, he has the right for the consulate to be notified so that the foreign government can provide legal representation.

Yet lawyers representing Ramos argued as early as 1996 that Ramos was not aware of those rights. As a result he didn't receive sufficient legal guidance that could have made a difference in his sentencing, according to the report.

In a 2015 filing, current lawyer Danalynn Racer wrote Ramos was instead represented by court-appointed counsel the attorney deemed "incompetent," who failed to present mitigating evidence that didn't take Ramos' brain damage and history of severe mental illness, including bipolar disorder. Ramos' upbringing in abject poverty that was marked by "shocking brutality" also was not considered, the attorney contended.

Ultimately, Ramos was found guilty and sentenced to death in March 1993. Ten years later, the Mexican government filed a case against the U.S., alleging Ramos was lumped with 50 other Mexican immigrants facing death sentences in the U.S. who had not received consulate-sponsored representation as outlined in the treaty, the Texas Tribune reported.

That case reached the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which determined the in 2004 that the U.S. had violated by treaty. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the case after Ramos sought relief under the international court's ruling, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision. Appeals to halt the execution came as late as Tuesday, when the United Nations called for the execution not to be carried out given the treaty violations.

In the end, no treaty or intervention proved powerful enough a deterrent to stop the execution, and he became the the 11th prisoner to be administered the lethal injection in Texas and the 21st put to die in the U.S. as a whole. In the end, no friends or relatives of his were present at the execution, according to reports.

In a final statement, Ramos thanked the Mexican government for its assistance over the years, and expressed gratitude for the "humane treatment I got in prison in Texas," he added. "I'm getting my gold watch that it took the governor 30 years to forge," he added cryptically. "Thank you God. Lord, send me a chariot. I'm ready."

As the lethal dose of the potent sedative pentobarbital coursed through his veins, Ramos took a couple of deep breaths, sputtered once and started to snore, the Charlotte Observer reported. Just over ten minutes later, at 9:36 p.m. CST, Ramos was pronounced dead.

Read the full story at Texas Tribune

>>> Photo via Texas Department of Criminal Justice