Inmate Executed in Texas After Lawyers Fail to Obtain Stay
An inmate described as a “good jail house lawyer” was put to death Friday after attorneys working without the condemned man’s consent failed to obtain a stay of execution.
Ramon Hernandez, 44, died by injection for killing an El Paso night watchman during a failed robbery in 1980.
The execution came less than 30 minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay for Hernandez, who opposed all appeal efforts on his behalf.
“He said he was afraid, but that he was ready to get it over with,” said Texas Atty. Gen. Jim Mattox, who talked with Hernandez just before the execution. “He asked whether the court was informed the lawyers were acting without his consent. I told him his position was represented.”
Hernandez was convicted in the June 20, 1980, shooting death of Oscar Martin Fraire, 33, of Juarez, Mexico, a live-in night watchman at an El Paso service station.
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