Execution Report: Ricardo Ortiz

Continued from Page 1

Ortiz was first sentenced to prison in 1983 at age 19. He was sentenced to 15 years for aggravated robbery and 2 years for burglary of a vehicle. While in prison, he was found guilty of possessing a deadly weapon and was sentenced to an additional 5 years. He was paroled in January 1990. (At the time, early release was common in Texas due to strict prison population caps imposed by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice.) Ortiz was returned to prison in November 1992 for violating parole. He was paroled again in August 1996.

Evidence presented at Ortiz' punishment hearing also showed that he was arrested in 1990, but never tried, for the execution-style slayings of two Houston-area parolees, Anthony Acosta, 42, and Jimmy Rangel, 29. Their bodies were found in the desert southeast of El Paso.

A jury convicted Ortiz of capital murder in June 1999 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in September 2002. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

Ortiz declined to be interviewed in the weeks preceding his execution.

There were no witnesses at the execution in the room reserved for friends and family of the condemned prisoner. "I love my family," Ortiz said in his last statement. "Thank you for all of your support. Stay strong. I am at peace. I love you and my kids. See you." The lethal injection was then started. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m.

By David Carson. Posted on 31 January 2009.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Attorney General's Office, Associated Press, court documents.