On March 27, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute Rosendo Rodriguez for the 2008 murder and assault of Summer Baldwin in Lubbock.
In their latest appeal, Rodriguez’s attorneys claim prosecutors failed to disclose information regarding a 2015 settlement with the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s office and Chief Medical Examiner Sridhar Natarajan. According to KCBD-11, “The motion cites a case filed by Dr. Luisa Florez under the Texas Whistleblower Act back in 2015, claiming that Natarajan delegated critical decisions to a senior forensic nurse, Honey Haney Smith.”
On March 6, State District Judge Jim Bob Darnell rejected the appeal without comment. Rodriguez’s appeal has since been rejected by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
If it proceeds, Rodriguez’s execution would be the fourth in Texas this year, and the seventh in the United States. There are currently five other executions scheduled to take place in Texas through July.