A child killer who has spent 25 years on death row chillingly said 'I'm ready' in his final statement before being executed.
Robert Moreno Ramos, 64, was killed by lethal injection on Wednesday, having had his last-minute plea for a stay of execution denied.
The execution comes 26 years after the murders of his wife Leticia, 42, and their children, seven-year-old Abigail and three-year-old Jonathon in February 1992.
Advert
According to trial evidence, they had been beaten to death with a sledgehammer, before being buried under the bathroom floor in their Texas home in Progreso, Hidalgo County.
Court records note Ramos was having an affair with a woman, who he apparently married three days after the killings.
Ramos was found guilty and sentenced to death in March 1993.
Advert
Ramos' lawyers had made many pleas - up until his final hour - arguing that the case should be re-examined for legal violations from 25 years ago.
They said that Ramos wasn't aware of his rights, and therefore hadn't received sufficient legal guidance that could have affected the outcome of his sentencing.
In 2015, lawyer Danalynn Recer said Ramos had been represented by 'incompetent counsel' appointed by the court, who was poorly trained and disregarded Ramos' history of mental illness and brain damage.
Advert
In a press release issued on Wednesday, Recer said Ramos' case was an example of 'freakishly improbably injustice', arguing that Ramos will 'die without having received even one full and fair review of the constitutionality of his death sentence at any stage of the process in any state or federal court'.
On Tuesday, the United Nations called for a halt to Ramos' execution in a statement.
"Any death sentence carried out in contravention of a Government's international obligations amounts to an arbitrary execution," it said.
"We call for his death sentence to be annulled and for Mr. Ramos Moreno to be re-tried in compliance with due process and international fair trial standards."
In his final statement in the death chamber, Ramos said: "I am very thankful for all the hard work the Mexican consulate put in a fight over my death sentence if there was a reason or not.
Advert
"I am thankful for the humane treatment that I was given here at the two prisons that I was at.
"I am getting my gold watch that it took the governor 30 years to forge.
"Thank you God, Lord send me a chariot.
"I'm ready."
Advert
After giving his final statement, Ramos was pronounced dead at 9.36pm.
Featured Image Credit: KVEOTopics: Death, Texas, World News, Death Row, Death Penalty, News, US News