Execution Report: Heliberto Chi

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A jury convicted Chi of capital murder in November 2002 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in May 2004. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Chi had been previously scheduled for execution in October 2007, but that date was postponed while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of lethal injection. A new death warrant was issued after the Court ruled in April 2008 that execution by lethal injection does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

In his final appeals, Chi, who came to the United States illegally from Honduras in 1995, claimed that arresting officials violated an international treaty by not informing him of his right to contact the Honduran consulate for legal help. The state argued that Chi had six years to raise this issue in his appeals, but never did, and that Chi failed to demonstrate that any prejudice or miscarriage of justice had occurred in his case.

Jose Medellin, who was executed in Huntsville two days earlier, also raised a consular rights issue in his appeals, but Texas and federal courts refused to halt both executions. In Medellin's case on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court needed nearly four hours to make its decision in a 5-4 ruling. The same court disposed of Chi's case on Thursday without dissent with a terse, three-line order.

"God forgive them," and "Receive my spirit," Chi said during his final statement, alluding to Jesus Christ's death on the Cross. He also told a cousin watching the execution that he loved him, and whispered a prayer in Spanish as the lethal injection was started. He glanced briefly at Paliotta's two sons, but did not speak to them. He was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 8 August 2008.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's office, Associated Press, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.