Tonight, January 21, barring any last-minute intervention, the State of Texas will carry out its first execution of 2015. Arnold Prieto is scheduled to be put to death for the 1993 robbery and murders of Rudolfo and Virginia Rodriguez and Paula Moran, a family friend, at the home of the San Antonio couple. Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez were relatives of Prieto’s two companions that night, brothers Guadalupe and Jessie Hernandez. Jessie Hernandez, who was 17 at the time of the crime, is serving a life sentence, while Guadalupe was never charged due to insufficient evidence. Read more about Prieto in the San Antonio Express-News and from the Austin Chronicle.
Please stand in vigil this afternoon and evening with TCADP members around the state. Vigil locations are available here.
The State of Texas is scheduled to carry out two more executions next week:
- On January 28, Garcia White is scheduled to be put to death for the 1989 stabbing deaths of Bonita Edwards and her 16-year-old twin daughters, Annette and Bernette, in their Houston home. He was convicted in 1996.
- On January 29, Robert Ladd is scheduled to be executed for the 1996 murder of Vicki Ann Garner in Tyler (Smith County). Learn more about his case from Amnesty International and take action to stop his execution.
Three executions have taken place nationwide to date in 2015: Florida, Georgia, and Oklahoma each have put one person to death this year.