Last night, the State of Texas put Daniel Lopez to death for killing 20-year veteran Corpus Christi Police Department Lt. Stuart Alexander with his truck during a high-speed chase in 2009. Lopez asked the courts to expedite his execution. At least 28 other individuals on death row in Texas have been put to death after deciding to forego further appeals in their cases.
The State of Texas has executed 10 people to date in 2015; a total of 19 executions have taken place nationwide.
Another execution is scheduled to occur later this month: Bernardo Aban Tercero, a Nicaraguan national, is scheduled to be put to death on August 26, 2015. He was convicted of robbing a dry cleaning store and killing customer Robert Keith Berger in 1997 in Houston. Tercero argued the shooting was an accident. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal in 2014.
According to Amnesty International, the jury in Tercero’s trial did not hear critical mitigating evidence about the deplorable conditions of his childhood in Nicaragua and his attorneys did little to investigate the case. An Urgent Action issued by Amnesty states that the poor quality of legal representation he received at trial and during state-level appeals is at the center of his clemency petition.
To read the full Urgent Action from Amnesty International, which includes additional background information , please click here (PDF).