Jaime Elizalde

Jaime Elizalde Jr., 33, was executed by lethal injection on 31 January 2006 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of two men during an argument.

On 5 November 1994, Elizalde, then 22, and his father, Jaime Elizalde Sr. got into a confrontation over a pool game with two men in a bar. The elder Elizalde asked the men - Juan Guajardo and Marcos Vasquez - to follow him outside. According to witnesses, as the men walked out the door, the younger Elizalde pulled a gun from his waistband and shot them to death.

Elizalde did not testify at his trial. He was identified as the gunman by two witnesses who knew him.

In 1989, at age 17, Elizalde was convicted of cocaine possession and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He served four years before receiving parole in February 1994.

A jury convicted Elizalde of capital murder in March 1997 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in June 1999.

Elizalde denied having anything to do with the murders. Although he admitted to being at the bar the night that Guajardo and Vasquez were killed - in violation of his parole - "I don't know what happened," he told a reporter. "I had nothing to do with that. That was none of my business."

Prior to a scheduled November 2005 execution date, Elizalde told a reporter that he knew who killed the two men, but he would not divulge any names because he didn't want to put his family in jeopardy. Also, he added, "I despise a snitch." Soon after the interview, however, Elizalde claimed in a sworn statement filed with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that Juan Guajardo and Marcos Vasquez were murdered by a man named Albert Guajardo.

Albert Guajardo was murdered in January 1995. A man named Hermilio Herrero Jr. was convicted of that murder and sentenced to life in prison. In his statement to the parole board, Elizalde stated that he himself killed Albert Guajardo. "The reason I did it," Elizalde wrote, "was because a substantial amount of drugs were stolen from me by Albert after he entered my home along with some paperwork with certain information he had no right to possess." At the Harris County district attorney's office's request, Elizalde's scheduled execution was stayed so that he could testify in the Albert Guajardo case. However, when he was called to testify in court, Elizalde invoked his constitutional right to remain silent. A new execution date was then scheduled.

Elizalde's last meal request was for fried chicken, onion rings, french fries, two bowls of peach cobbler, two orange juices, and two milk shakes.

In his final statement, Elizalde encouraged "the guys back there waiting" in prison to have faith in the Lord. "Many times in life we take the wrong road, and there are consequences for everything," he said, "but that doesn't mean you're beyond redemption." Elizalde then prayed and asked for forgiveness for his sins. When he finished his final statement, the lethal injection was started. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m.