Convicted killer executed for Fredericksburg shooting

A repentant Jose Santellan was executed Wednesday for gunning down his ex-girlfriend almost 9 years ago in the parking lot of a Fredericksburg hospital where she worked.

 "I hope and pray they can forgive me," Santellan said, referring to relatives of Yolanda Garza. "I loved Yolanda a lot."

No one from Garza's family attended the execution. "Even though they're not here, I hope they will read my words," Santellan said.

 In a voice choked with emotion, Santellan told his relatives, watching from a nearby room, that he loved them all and thanked them for his support. As they cried, he told them he would be all right.

 "To the guys on death row, stay strong. I hope to see you someday." He took a slight gasp as the drugs began to take effect and was pronounced dead at 6:26 CDT, 10 minutes later.

 Witnesses told of seeing Garza, 31, confronted by Santellan outside the Hill Country Memorial Hospital as she left her nurse's aide job Aug. 22, 1993. Santellan shot her 4 times and drove off with her body.

 "Yolanda became abusive, my mind went blank, I pulled out a handgun with a full clip," Santellan would tell authorities later.

 When Santellan sped off from Fredericksburg, the abduction and slaying turned macabre.

 Police determined he drove west, committing an armed robbery along the way in Uvalde, before stopping about 80 miles away at Camp Wood, where he checked into a motel and carried the woman's lifeless body into a room.

 According to court records, he engaged in sex acts with the corpse over the next night and day and poured perfume on the body to combat the growing odor of decomposition.

 "He's kind of a bizarre fellow," E. Bruce Curry, the Gillespie County District Attorney who prosecuted Santellan, said.

 Two days after the shooting, authorities got a tip that his car had been spotted at the motel. He was arrested there and confessed, telling police he "just wanted to get away and be with her and spend some time together."

 "The evidence was there, particularly for the death penalty aspect once you got the conviction, based on the brutal nature of the killing and then his follow-up," Curry said. "I think he fit the profile exactly on the future dangerousness issue."

 A psychiatric report concluded while Santellan was mentally ill and suffering depression, alcohol abuse, personality disorder and "intermittent explosive disorder," he was not mentally retarded and was competent to stand trial.

 While awaiting trial on capital murder charges, Santellan attacked a jail deputy, then demanded a trial on the assault charge. After the murder trial and death sentence, he was returned to court, tried again and received a life prison term.

 U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in 2000 overturned the murder conviction on appeal, saying the crime involved murder but not kidnapping because the victim already was dead before she was abducted. The state appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which last year reinstated the conviction and death sentence.

 On Thursday, another convicted killer, William Burns, was set to die for the 1981 shooting death of Johnny Lynn Hamlett, 18, at a wood preserving plant in Texarkana. Hamlett was shot 14 times and robbed of $110. Santellan becomes the 7th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas, and the 263rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982.

 Texas has 3 more executions scheduled for later this month, 6 in May and 4 in June.

 Santellan becomes the 19th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 768th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.