Miguel Flores

Miguel Angel Flores, 31, was executed by lethal injection on 9 November in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of a 20-year-old woman.

In June 1989, Angela Marie Tyson was closing the Borger video rental store where she was working that summer when Miguel Flores entered and abducted her at knifepoint. Flores forced Tyson into her car and took her to a remote area where he raped her. He then took her back into town, where he parked the car and talked to her for several minutes. When she began screaming, Flores stabbed her with a pocket knife six times in the chest and four times in the back. He then left his victim in her car and fled the scene.

When Flores learned that police were looking for him, he turned himself in and confessed to the crime. Court testimony showed that Flores was infatuated with Angela Tyson and visited the video store frequently on nights she was working there. He was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death by a jury.

On appeal, Flores' lawyers raised the point that Flores, a Mexican citizen, was not informed of his right to communicate with the Mexican consulate at the time of his arrest. Over the next five years, state and federal courts ruled that although this violated his consular rights under the Vienna Convention, it did not invalidate Flores' conviction. In 1995, Flores was set to be executed, but received a stay from U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice because of the consular rights question. However, later appeals verdicts and statements by the U.S. State Department confirmed the earlier decisions that even though an international treaty was violated, the federal government had no authority to prohibit a state from carrying out an execution in such a case.

In the weeks leading up to the execution, the Mexican government appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the State Department, and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to halt the execution. The Mexican government did not deny Flores' guilt, but asserted that he would have received fairer representation, especially during the crucial sentencing phase, if he had been informed of his consular rights. Prosecutors said that Flores, who came to the United States when he was four years old, graduated from American schools, and spoke fluent English, claimed to be a U.S. citizen, and that this nullified the Mexican government's case.

Another appeal argument had to do with a psychiatrist's testimony which warned that Flores would be a future danger to society. Flores' attorneys criticized this testimony because the psychiatrist never interviewed or even met Flores. Prosecutors said that the psychiatrist could make an accurate diagnosis based on the facts of the case, so a personal interview was not necessary. Prosecutors also pointed out that the defense did not allow the psychiatrist to interview Flores.

On death row, Flores said, "It's something that happened, and it was bad. I'm very sorry for what I did." "I don't feel I got a fair sentencing trial," Flores added. "If I had gotten a fair trial and the jury returned the death sentence, I can accept that. I'm asking for a life sentence, not to be released."

Two days before the Thursday execution, the Texas parole board denied Flores' clemency request by an 18-0 vote. The U.S. Supreme Court twice on Thursday denied his request for an appeal by a 5-4 vote -- once about five hours before the execution and again with less than an hour to go.

At his hour of death, Flores apologized to Angela Tyson's relatives. "I want to say I'm sorry. I said a prayer today for you so you can have peace. I hope you can forgive me," he told them. As the lethal drugs took effect, he closed his eyes, sputtered, and grunted. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m.