Texas inmate facing execution for 2001 fatal shooting as his lawyers argue he's no longer a danger

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man who admitted that he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and fatally shot the 18-year-old girlfriend of his drug dealer was set to be executed on Wednesday.

The remains of Bridget Townsend weren't found until October 2002, two years after she vanished, when Ramiro Gonzales, having received two life sentences for kidnapping and raping another woman, led authorities to the spot in Southwest Texas where he left her body.

His execution by lethal injection was planned for Wednesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

Gonzales, 41, was condemned for fatally shooting Townsend after stealing drugs and money and kidnapping her in January 2001 from a home in Bandera County, located northwest of San Antonio. He took her to his family’s ranch in neighboring Medina County, where he sexually assaulted her and killed her.

Gonzales’ lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution, arguing that he has taken responsibility for what he did and that a prosecution expert witness now says he was wrong in testifying that Gonzales would be a future danger to society, a legal finding needed to impose a death sentence.

“He has earnestly devoted himself to self-improvement, contemplation, and prayer, and has grown into a mature, peaceful, kind, loving, and deeply religious adult. He acknowledges his responsibility for his crimes and has sought to atone for them and to seek redemption through his actions,” Gonzales’ lawyers wrote Monday in their petition. A group of faith leaders have also asked authorities to stop Gonzales' execution.

Gonzales’ lawyers argue that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has violated his constitutional rights by declining to review his claims that a prosecution expert, psychiatrist Edward Gripon, wrongly asserted...