WASHINGTON, 16 GEN - Per il secondo giorno consecutivo, il carcere di Huntsville nel Texas e' stato teatro di un'esecuzione capitale: mercoledi' sera, a essere messo a morte con un'iniezione letale e' stato un uomo che, durante una sparatoria a casaccio, uccise una bambina di 5 anni e feri' altre due persone.

      John Baltazar, 30 anni, era stato condannato a morte per l'omicidio di Adriana Marines, avvenuto il 27 settembre 1997 a Corpus Christi, una cittadina sulla costa texana del Golfo del Mexico.

   All'esecuzione ha assistito Arturo Marines, lo zio di Adriana, l'uomo che Baltazar voleva uccidere perche' aveva una relazione con sua madre e la picchiava, e altri parenti della bambina uccisa.

   Baltazar non ha fatto nessuna dichiarazione.

   Entro fine mese, altre cinque esecuzioni sono previste in Texas. Quella di mercoledi' sera e' stata la 291.a da quando, nel 1982, le condanne hanno ripreso a essere eseguite nel Texas.

TEXAS - Execution - Man who shot 5-year-old executed

In Huntsville, a Corpus Christi man, who said he didn't mean to kill a 5-year-old girl as she was curled up on her family's couch watching "Sleeping Beauty," was executed tonight.

 John Baltazar had no final statement. Once the drugs began flowing, his eyes partially closed and his lips closed tightly. He took deep breaths and then gasped for air before his mouth fell open and he was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m., 8 minutes after the lethal dose began.

 Relatives of Adriana Marines witnessed the execution.

 A stoic Arturo Marines comforted his wife, Matilda, as she and her sister, Dalinda Cuellar, sobbed as the death occurred.

 Marines said his daughter's 1997 death was no accident.

 "He pretty much knew what he was doing," Marines said earlier. "He kicked the door in and just started shooting. He was executioner. He was judge and jury for my daughter all in one evening."

 Baltazar, 30, said he remembers shooting Arturo Marines, but had no idea he shot Marines' daughter or his 10-year-old niece, Vanessa Marines. Adriana died from 2 bullet wounds to her head. Vanessa survived a gunshot to her chest.

 "I didn't intentionally nor knowingly kill this child," Baltazar said last week from death row. "It was accidental."

 Baltazar said he was drunk and looking for Arturo Marines' brother-in- law, Narciso "Ted" Cuellar, who had moved out of the family's home a week earlier. Cuellar had previously been sleeping on the couch where his 2 young nieces nestled on the night of Sept. 27, 1997, to watch the movie.

 Baltazar said he had gotten a call informing him that Cuellar had beaten his mother.

 "I've never been very good with controlling my anger, but if Ted were to beat my mom again, I would try and go whip on (him) again," he said.

 Baltazar, who was paroled from prison just 2 months before the shootings, said he feels bad about killing Adriana Marines and wounding her cousin, but said he doesn't regret shooting Arturo Marines.

 "He jumped up and he was in my face," Baltazar said. "That's why he got shot."

 Arturo Marines says Baltazar turned his family's life "inside out."

 "I don't believe shooting innocent children, or for that matter, anybody, is an accident," he said. "Why couldn't you go after who you were really looking for instead of destroying an innocent family the way you did?"

 Baltazar said he didn't know the answer to that question.

 "I've been locked up most of my life," Baltazar said. "There ain't too much I can say about it."

 Before the shootings, Baltazar had pleaded guilty in 1994 to a felony burglary charge and a felony unauthorized use of a motor vehicle charge. In 1992, he also had served time for 2 earlier burglary charges.

 Between 1989 and 1993, Baltazar pleaded either guilty or no contest to 10 misdemeanor charges, including 4 charges of marijuana possession, three charges of evading detention and a theft charge.

 "I already knew that if I was found guilty that I was going to death row, simply because of my prior convictions," Baltazar said of the jury's guilty verdict and the death sentence it later handed down on March 11, 1998. "You can't find someone not to be a continuing threat to society with the record that I have."

 Baltazar said he wasn't afraid to die but thought his crime wasn't one he should be paying for with his life.

 "I'm not one to sidestep or shy away from my actions," he said. "Every thing I have ever been down for, if I'm guilty, I admit to my guilt. But I don't think being put to death for an accidental killing is right."

 Arturo Marines, meanwhile, says he hopes Baltazar's punishment will finally help his family to heal.

 "I'm just glad it is going to be over," he said. "Hopefully after this, everyone can go on with their lives.

 "This is the end of the book."

 Baltazar becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas, and the 291st overall since the state resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982.

 Baltazar becomes the 52nd condemned inmate to be put to death since Rick Perry became Governor of Texas.

 Baltazar becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 822nd overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977. There are 7 more executions scheduled in the USA this month, with 5 of them set in Texas alone.