John Ramirez Biography – Wiki
John Ramirez, Texas death row inmate John Henry Ramirez is set to be executed on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, for killing a convenience store worker more than 17 years ago in a robbery that garnered just $1.25. But he has one final request. Ramirez is asking that his pastor be allowed to lay hands on him as he dies by lethal injection. While the prisoner’s last request to the state was rejected, Ramirez reportedly argued the decision violates his religious rights.
Age
John Ramirez’s age is unknown.
Ex-Marine who killed Pablo Castro over $1.25 to be executed on Wednesday
Ramirez’s request that his spiritual advisor touches him and vocalize prayers when he is executed has been rejected by Texas prison officials, who have argued that direct contact poses a security risk and vocal prayer could be detrimental. In rejecting the 37-year-old prisoner’s request, US District Judge David Hittner ruled last week, “[The Texas Department of Criminal Justice] has a compelling interest in maintaining an orderly, safe, and effective process when it is conducted. an irrevocable process and a procedure charged with emotions “.
The judge added that TDCJ “will accommodate Ramírez’s religious beliefs, giving Ramírez access to his pastor on the day of the execution and allowing him to remain nearby during the execution.” Ramírez will be executed Wednesday night at the Huntsville State Penitentiary with a lethal injection after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, September 8, 2021.
In 2008, Ramírez was convicted of the 2004 murder of Pablo Castro, 46.
Castro was taking the trash out of a Corpus Christi store when prosecutors say Ramírez accosted him. Castro had nine children and had reportedly worked at the convenience store for more than a decade when he was killed. During a series of robberies in which the inmate and two women searched for money after a three-day drug binge, Ramírez stabbed Castro 29 times. He slit Castro’s throat and stabbed him more than two dozen times.
Reports reveal that the two women who also participated in these robberies, Christina Chávez (currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for aggravated robbery) and Ángela Rodríguez (currently serving a 99-year prison sentence for murder), were convicted. for minor offenses. charges and remain in prison.
Suspect Charged & Arrested
The two were arrested that night. But after the murder, Ramírez fled to Mexico but was finally arrested 3.5 years later. He was able to remain elusive until 2008 when he was captured near Brownsville, Texas.
Seth Kretzer, Ramírez’s attorney, argued that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is violating the death sentenced’s First Amendment rights to practice his religion. Qualifying the prohibition of vocal prayer as a spiritual “gag order”, he said in court documents: “It is hostile towards religion, denying religious exercise at the precise moment when it is most needed: when someone is in transition from this life. to the next “.
Dana Moore, who has been Ramirez’s spiritual advisor for the past four years, said the request is to allow her to practice his Christian faith and treat him “with some dignity.”
“John’s sentence was not dead and you can’t have any meaningful contact,” said Moore, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi. “He’s paying for his crime. I guess the question that would arise, isn’t that enough?”
However, Mark Skurka, the lead prosecutor in Ramirez’s 2008 trial who is now retired after serving as a Nueces County district attorney, said: “Pablo Castro couldn’t get someone to pray for him because this guy stabbed him. 29 times Pablo Castro was not allowed such niceties and things like having a clergyman present. ”
“He was a good guy. He would help the people in the neighborhood. Everyone liked him, ”Skurka said.
