Texas: Reginald Blanton executed

Reginald Blanton

A man convicted of murder in a San Antonio robbery more than 9 years ago was executed Tuesday evening after proclaiming his innocence.

Reginald Blanton, 28, received lethal injection for the April 2000 shooting death of Carlos Garza at the 22-year-old man's apartment.

In a brief statement after he was strapped to the Texas death chamber gurney, Blanton insisted his execution was an injustice and he was wrongly convicted.

"Carlos was my friend," he said, looking at Garza's mother, wife and 3 sisters, who watched through a window a few feet from him. "I didn't murder him. What's happening right now is an injustice. This doesn't solve anything. This will not bring back Carlos."

Blanton also complained the lethal drugs that would be used on him weren't allowed to put down dogs.

"I say I am worse off than a dog," he said. "They want to kill me for all this. I am not the man that did this."

Then he told friends he loved them and to continue to fight.

"I will see y'all again," he said.

He was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m., 8 minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing.

"Today is the day we have all been waiting for," said one of Garza's sisters, Sulema Balverde. "My brother Carlos Garza can finally rest in peace."

The women held hands or wrapped their arms around each other while Blanton spoke. Some wiped away tears.

"I miss my son dearly and have waited for this day to finally get here," said Irene Garza, the victim's mother.

The punishment was carried out less than 2 hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Blanton's last-day appeals.

He had always maintained his innocence but a security video submitted at his capital murder trial showed him pawning 2 gold necklaces and a religious medal belonging to Garza about 20 minutes after the shooting. When he was arrested 4 days later, he was wearing more of Garza's jewelry.

Blanton's twin brother, Robert Blanton, told police his brother broke into Garza's apartment, believing no one was home, and shot Garza when he appeared.

Prosecutors said Reginald Blanton, who was 18 at the time, took some jewelry and left, then returned 20 minutes later to go through Garza's place. He took about $100 in cash. The necklaces got him $79 at a pawn shop.

A neighbor called police after seeing the broken door and spotting Garza lying on the floor. Garza died later at a hospital.

Robert Blanton's girlfriend tipped police about the shooting. Robert Blanton implicated his brother during questioning. Reginald Blanton argued his brother's statement was coerced by police.

Robert Blanton wasn't charged in the case because authorities couldn't show he was involved in the break-in or shooting, but he's now in prison, serving a 2-year term for an unrelated drug conviction at the Huntsville Unit, the prison where the execution was carried out.

Reginald Blanton's trial attorneys told a Bexar County jury he shouldn't be sentenced to die, saying he had a horrible childhood with little supervision and he could have been harmed as a fetus because his mother was pushed down the stairs.

Witnesses testified Blanton smoked marijuana at age 11, spent time at a juvenile boot camp and joined gangs in San Antonio to seek protection his family didn't provide. He had previous arrests for shoplifting, weapons possession, auto theft and marijuana possession. When he was arrested on the capital murder charge, he had 4 bags of marijuana and a shotgun. He was accused of assaulting an inmate while awaiting trial.

On death row, prison records show Blanton had several disciplinary infractions, including possession of a sharpened steel shank. He also was among death row inmates caught last year with illegal cell phones.

Blanton became the 19th inmate to be executed in Texas this year. At least 6 more lethal injections are scheduled before the end of the year, including Khristian Oliver, 32, set to die next week for the beating death of a Nacogdoches County man during a burglary in 1998. Blanton becomes the 442nd condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982. He is the 203rd condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick Perry became governor in 2001.

Blanton becomes the 42nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1178th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources : Associated Press & Rick Halperin, Oct. 28, 2009

Comments

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Alabama executes Jeremy Williams

Tennessee and Oklahoma have put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men in one day. Tennessee and Oklahoma put inmates to death within 30 minutes of each other Thursday, and Alabama followed suit hours later as U.S. states executed three men by lethal injection in one day for the first time since 2010. The Tennessee man was executed for killing a maid at a motel in 1985, and the Oklahoma man for killing his girlfriend in 2003. In Alabama, a man was put to death Thursday evening for killing a 5-year-old girl he had paid her mother to abuse.

Tennessee | The doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Dr. Mark Fowler assisted in the failed execution of a Tennessee prisoner. Physicians are meant to heal patients—why is he working in the death chamber? Mark Fowler, a physician with 25 years’ experience, stepped beneath the bright lights and approached the middle-aged man lying on a gurney. Around him, people in medical gowns prepared needles and sterile tubing. It had all the appearances of a hospital setting. Fowler had been called in to help establish an IV line through which the 57-year-old man, Tony Carruthers, would be injected with pharmaceutical drugs. The team had struggled to find a vein, so Fowler was summoned to set a central line—an intravenous catheter inserted into the major vein below the collarbone.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Tennessee executes Darrell Hines

The state has spent millions of dollars over decades to execute a seriously ill man who was already incarcerated. The state of Tennessee executed death row inmate Darrell Hines Thursday morning, according to an advocacy group. No formal announcement of the execution has been issued by state leaders yet. The execution was slated for 10 a.m. Thursday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. [DPN update] Hines was pronounced dead at 10:43 a.m. CDT. His last meal was fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, corn, fries, biscuits, a chicken sandwich, chocolate chip cake, and sweet tea.

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

The 'Black Widow' shakes Iran: 10 death sentences for a serial killer who killed 12 men

Kolthum Akbari, an Iranian woman widely dubbed the “Black Widow,” was convicted of serial murders of elderly men she married, often temporarily. Official accounts generally center on 11 murders (plus one attempted murder), though Akbari herself gave varying figures and investigations suggested she had many more marriages. The sentencing occurred primarily in September 2025 in Mazandaran Province, with ongoing reporting and updates into 2026. The 56- to 59-year-old killer confessed to killing at least 11 elderly men after temporarily or officially marrying them; Iranian authorities have linked her to additional marriages and possible further victims.

Tennessee set to execute Anthony Darrell Hines

Barring any last-minute interventions, the Tennessee Department of Correction will execute Anthony Darrell Hines by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Thursday morning. This week, two courts had the opportunity to halt the execution: the federal court in Middle Tennessee and the U.S. Supreme Court. Gov. Bill Lee announced Tuesday he personally would not prevent the execution. “After deliberate consideration of Anthony Darrell Hines’ request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” he said in a written statement. The U.S. Supreme Court has not granted a stay or reprieve.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog