Texas Inmate Denied Prosthetic Leg for His Upcoming Execution
A one-legged inmate set to be executed Thursday has requested an artificial leg so he can walk to the death chamber, but Texas prison officials said Tuesday he would not get it.
Rodolfo Hernandez, 52, asked for the leg so he could “walk like a man” to his death by lethal injection in a state prison in Huntsville.
“I came in with two legs, I want to go out with two legs,” said Hernandez, who was condemned to die for killing an illegal immigrant from Mexico during a 1985 robbery in New Braunfels.
Hernandez lost the leg to diabetes while in prison.
A new leg would cost taxpayers $8,000 and was not considered a medical necessity, especially two days before Hernandez is set to die, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Todd.
“He can be executed without the prosthesis,” Todd said.
He said Hernandez would be taken in a wheelchair from his cell to the death chamber, or if he wanted to walk, crutches would be provided.
Hernandez would be the seventh person put to death this year in Texas.
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