Texas is scheduled to carry out its 14th execution of 2012, tonight in Huntsville. It would be the 491st post-Furman Texas execution since 1982, and the 252nd execution conducted under the administration of Governor Rick Perry. Texas has the nation's most active death chamber and accounts for more than 37% of the executions in America's death penalty states.
Ramon Hernandez is set to be executed Wednesday for the 2001 abduction, rape and killing of Rosa Maria Rosado.
But the man prosecutors have called a serial rapist and murderer is known to have other victims.
Rosado, whose body was found in a shallow grave near Loop 1604 and UTSA Boulevard, was the first of five victims authorities connected to Hernandez or named him as suspect. It was his only conviction.
On Thursday, Texas is scheduled to execute Preston Highes III. Allen Turner writes, "Thursday execution still on schedule after killer denied commutation," for the Houston Chronicle.
Houston killer Preston Hughes III's claims that police lied at his trial failed to sway the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which on Tuesday unanimously voted not to recommend that the governor commute the local warehouse worker's death sentence to life in prison.
Hughes, 46, is set to be executed Thursday for the Sept. 26, 1988, stabbing murders of La Shandra Charles, 15, and her 3-year-old cousin, Marcell Taylor.
Hughes, who was on probation for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at the time of the killings, has claimed innocence. Hughes' case has drawn international attention among death penalty critics who believe his case was marred by irregularities.
The killer's lawyer, Pat McCann, said he will pursue his client's appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court and at the Harris County civil court level.
To date, there have been 37 executions in American death penalty states this year; a total of 1,314 post-Furman executions since 1977.
Houston's KPFT-FM will host Execution Watch on the web and it's HD radio broadcast signal beginning at 6:00 p.m. (CST), Wednesday and Thursday.
These are the final two Texas executions scheduled for 2012. According to TDCJ, five execution dates have already been set for 2013.
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