HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas, which leads the nation in carrying out the death penalty, on Wednesday executed the 400th person since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.
Johnny Ray Conner in an undated composite released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Texas, which leads the nation in carrying out the death penalty, on Wednesday executed the 400th person since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. REUTERS/Handout
Johnny Ray Conner, 32, who was convicted in the shooting death of a convenience store owner in Houston in 1998, was the 21st man put to death by lethal injection in Texas this year. He spent nearly eight years on death row.
Texas resumed the practice after the Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on it in 1976. Since then, 1,092 people have been executed in the United States, including Conner, according to statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center.
Conner’s execution in Huntsville, located north of Houston, has drawn sharp criticism from death penalty opponents who argue that the practice is inhumane and does not serve as a deterrent to crime.
“It’s a pretty sad day for the progression -- or lack thereof -- for human rights in this state,” said Rick Halperin, president of the non-profit Texas Coalition To Abolish the Death Penalty. He called the state-ordered executions “barbaric and outdated.”
On Tuesday, the European Union urged the governor of Texas to halt all executions before the state carried out Conner’s death sentence.
A spokesman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry responded in a statement: “Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens.”
According to prosecutors, Louisiana native Conner robbed the store at gunpoint. When a customer entered the store, Conner shot him twice before the witness fled. Conner then fatally shot the 49-year-old woman who owned the store twice in the head.
Conner had no request for a last meal.
In his final statement, he asked for forgiveness and told his family he loved them. He also said his execution was wrong.
“What is happening to me now is unjust and the system is broken,” Conner said. “At the same time I bear witness there is no God but Allah and Prophet Mohammad. Unto Allah I belong unto Allah I return.”
Conner’s was the second of five executions scheduled for this month. The state has 10 more executions scheduled in 2007.
In the United States, 38 states have the death penalty, but the overall number of executions carried out by Texas is more than four times that of any other state, according to the Texas Coalition To Abolish The Death Penalty.
Texas ha ejecutado a la persona número 400 desde que reintrodujo la pena de muerte en 1976.

Johnny Ray Conner, de 32 años de edad, fue condenado a la pena de muerte por asesinar de un disparo a la dueña de un local y a un cliente del mismo en Houston, Texas, en 1998.

El ciudadano negro fue pronunciado muerto a las 18:20 EDT (23:30 UTC), pasados ocho minutos de que la inyección letal fuera llevada a cabo.



La familia de Conner presenció la ejecución, en la que, en un dramático episodio, Conner pidió perdón y expresó su amor a su familia y la de la víctima.

"Lo que a mi me pasa es injusto y el sistema está roto", dijo en sus últimas palabras. "Al mismo tiempo doy testimonio que no hay Dios, solo Alá y el Profeta Mahoma. A Alá pertenezco, a Alá vuelvo".

La Unión Europea había pedido esta semana que se detuviera esta práctica "cruel e inhumana". Además expresó su descontento y lo mucho que se arrepentía por la ejecución.

"No hay evidencia que sugiera que el uso de la pena capital sirva como elemento disuasivo contra el crimen violento".

Sin embargo, el gobernador de Texas Rick Perry pidió a la UE que se ocupe de sus propios asuntos.

"Es un día bastante triste para el progreso –o la falta del mismo– de los derechos humanos en este estado", declaró Rick Halperin, presidente de la organización sin ánimo de lucro Coalición de Texas para Abolir la Pena de Muerte (en inglés, ''Texas Coalition To Abolish the Death Penalty''). "Estas prácticas son bárbaras y retrógadas", añadió.

Un portavoz de Rick Perry, Robert Black, declaró: "Doscientos treinta años atrás, nuestros antepasados lucharon una guerra para derrocar a un monarca europeo y ganar la libertad de autodeterminación. Los tejanos decidieron hace mucho que la pena de muerte es un castigo justo y apropiado para los más terribles crímenes cometidos contra nuestros ciudadanos. Mientras que respetamos a nuestros amigos en Europea... Los tejanos están gobernando Texas bien".

El Centro de Información de Pena de Muerte, con sede en Washington, dice que se han ejecutado más de 1.090 prisioneros desde 1876. Texas llevó a cabo más de un tercio de éstas.