Last night, April 16, 2014, the State of Texas carried out its third execution in three weeks, putting Jose Luis Villegas, Jr. to death for the murders of three people – his ex-girlfriend, 24-year-old Erida Perez Salazar, her 3-year-old son, Jacob Salazar, and her 51-year-old mother, Alma Perez – in 2001 in Corpus Christi. He reportedly then stole from the family to buy drugs.
According to the AP’s account of the execution, which appeared in the Houston Chronicle and other media outlets, “just as the dose of pentobarbital began taking effect, he [Villegas] said, ‘It does kind of burn. Goodbye.’ He gasped several times, then began breathing quietly. Within less than a minute, all movement had stopped.”
Villegas was the third Texas inmate put to death with a new supply of the drug pentobarbital, which the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) obtained in March. TDCJ has refused to disclose the name of the compounding pharmacy that supplied the drug.
Read more about the case from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times and the Austin Chronicle.
The next execution in Texas is scheduled to take place on May 13, 2014.