Execution Report: Martin Vega

Continued from Page 1

Vega pleaded not guilty at his trial. He claimed that he confessed to the murder so that he would have access to the courts, where he could reveal a plot of law officers to kill him. He did not, however, present any evidence of such a plot.

A jury found Vega guilty of capital murder in 1989 and setenced him to death. The Texas Court of Crminial appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence. His subsequent appeals in state and federal court were also denied. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in denying Vega's appeal, stated that Vega and his lawyer's disagreement over trial strategy was not a grounds for relief, since his lawyer ultimately respected his wishes.

Vega did marry Linda Mims, and he did enjoy some financial benefits of the insurance payout, but prosecutors said they were never able to corroborate Vega's claims concerning Linda's involvement in her husband's murder, and she was never charged.

Prosecutor Jeff Van Horn said that there was no evidence against Mims apart from Vega's testimony, and she refused to testify.

"She claimed the Fifth Amendment, and I couldn't force her to testify," Van Horn said.

Rugeley said that the insurance company refused to pay Linda's claim for over a year because she was a suspect in the murder, but she sued them, and they finally paid because she was not charged.

In his last statement at his execution, Vega opened with "I really don't have much to say." He then he spoke for several minutes, proclaiming that both he and Linda Mims were innocent. He disputed the blood and other physical evidence used against him, disputed the testimony against him and the truthfulness of the witnesses, and faulted his lawyers. He also named "ol' freaky deaky Bill Clinton," who, as President, signed an anti-terrorism law that placed limits on the federal appeals process. He called his execution a "conspiracy" and said, "Ain't no telling who gonna be next."

"Sims is innocent and so am I," he said toward the end of his statement. "So the murder is still not there. Today you are a witness, the state (cough). Bye." News reports did not state whether the lethal injection was started while Vega was still speaking, but the abrupt ending and the cough suggest that it might have been. He was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m.

"I thought it was crazy," the Mims' daughter, Jennifer, said of Vega's last statement. "It was just off the charts."

"Martin was always the type to take everything and make himself look like a victim," she said. "And even in his dying breath, he wanted himself to look like a victim, although he's not."

By David Carson. Posted on 11 August 2016.
Sources: Texas Department of Criminal Justice, court documents, Associated Press.