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

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