TEXAS (USA): ROBERT MORENO RAMOS EXECUTED

November 15, 2018:

Robert Moreno Ramos was executed on 14 November 2018.
Ramos, 64, immigrant from Mexico, was sentenced to death in Hidalgo County in March 1993 for the February 1992 killings of his wife, Leticia, 42, and their two children, Abigail, 7, and Jonathon, 3, who were found buried beneath the bathroom floor in the couple's home.
Ramos said he wasn’t the one who killed them. Instead, he said, he didn’t realize his family was dead until he came home and found the bodies. Then he decided to bury them under the bathroom floor so his other son wouldn’t find out. The defense blamed the killings on unknown drug dealers. On appeal, Ramos raised concerns about earlier bad lawyering, and also alleged that the state had violated Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by not telling him about his right to speak to his nation's consulate and request legal assistance from his country. On top of that, they argue, Ramos had abysmal legal representation during trial and jurors never learned about his severely abusive childhood, brain dysfunction, bipolar disorder and low IQ. Given the robust support Mexico offers its citizens facing capital cases in the U.S., Ramos’ lawyers say that help could have made a difference. The courts repeatedly refused to grant him relief as the treaty is only enforceable between countries.
In a statement released Tuesday, the United Nations called for a halt to Ramos' execution based on the treaty violations.
Ramos was the 11th person executed in Texas this year, the 556th person executed in Texas since the state resumed executions in 1982. Ramos was the 21st person executed this year in the US, and the 1,486th person executed in the United States since 1976.