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Adolph
Hernandez, 50 anni, ex barbiere giudicato colpevole di un omicidio
compiuto il 30 settembre del 1988 e' stato messo a morte nella
notte (alle 01.00 ora italiane) con un'iniezione letale nel carcere
di Huntsville, in Texas. (ANSA-REUTERS)
A
parolee with an extensive criminal record was executed tonight for
fatally beating a 69-year-old West Texas woman with a baseball bat
during a robbery at her home. Adolph Gil Hernandez, 50, made a
brief statement, expressing love to his family. "I want to
thank my family for their help and moral support and for their
struggle. It would have been a lot harder without their love. I am
just going home," he told witnesses that included a daughter
and three brothers. "I'lll see y'all one of these days. Just
don't rush it." He repeatedly told them he loved them and
asked that God bless them. He switched to Spanish, where he said a
brief prayer. As the drugs began taking effect, he took a deep
breath, then sputtered. Some of his relatives began sobbing and
praying, until a physician pronounced him dead 8 minutes later at
6:24 p.m. CST. Hernandez, whose history included burglary, auto
theft and assaults, insisted he was not the man who on the night of
Sept. 30, 1988, bashed Elizabeth Alvarado 8 times in the head with
the bat and ran from her house in Slaton, near Lubbock, with her
purse containing $350. According to testimony at his trial, one of
the victim's daughters, Josie, and a great-grandson saw Hernandez
emerge from Alvarado's kitchen carrying the bat and confronted him.
Hernandez then fled after a brief struggle. An hour later, police
found him hiding in some bushes not far away. Court records showed
Hernandez had five prior felony convictions, assaulted his wife and
daughter, had disciplinary problems while in prison, encouraged his
son to kill his grandfather, assaulted other relatives, was
responsible for an assault on a fellow jail inmate and a stabbing,
and threatened to kill the judge in his capital murder trial. 8
months before the Alvarado slaying, he was paroled from a 15-year
term for auto theft. In appeals rejected earlier by the courts,
Hernandez blamed the slaying on an alcohol-induced blackout.
Although his lawyers at trial introduced evidence of Hernandez's
habitual drinking, no evidence was presented to show he was
intoxicated that night. "Even if Hernandez was intoxicated on
the night of the murder, he undeniably knew his conduct was wrong,"
the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote, upholding his
conviction. "Otherwise, he would not have been hiding from the
police..." In the past month, however, Hernandez contended the
murder was committed by a black man whose identity he did not know.
"It doesn't matter now, but there was more people involved in
this case," he told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal from death
row. Then this week, defense attorneys produced a bloody shirt,
stored in a garage for 12 years, which they said would clear the
former barber. A state judge in Lubbock, however, refused to stop
the punishment. The execution marked the second time in a month
members of Alvarado's family drove to Huntsville to watch the
execution of a man convicted of killing one of their loved ones.
Mary Jane Garcia watched on Jan. 9 as convicted killer Jack Wade
Clark received lethal injection for the abduction, rape and fatal
stabbing of her 23-year-old daughter more than 11 years ago.
Alvarado, the victim in the Hernandez case, was Garcia's mother.
"I feel so bad for this family and for what they've been
through," Tanya Pierce, a former Lubbock County assistant
district attorney who helped prosecute Hernandez, said this week.
"My heart goes out to the victims in any of these cases,"
Travis Ware, the former Lubbock district attorney who also
prosecuted Hernandez, said. "But especially in this case,
where they lost 2 relatives in the same family to 2 completely
unconnected cases. This has got to be a first."Hernandez was
the only Texas inmate scheduled for execution this month. At least
7 others, however, are on the execution calendar through May.
Hernandez becomes the 4th condemned inmate to be put to death this
year in Texas and the 243rd overall since the state resumed capital
punishment on December 7, 1982.Hernandez becomes the 14th condemned
inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 697th
overall since executions were resumed on January 17, 1977.(sources:
Associated Press & Rick Halperin)
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