US death row inmate executed in Texas

In 2006, Ramiro Gonzales was convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Bridget Townsend when they both were 18 years old.

Gonzales, now 41, was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. local time (23:50 GMT). He was executed via lethal injection.

"To the Townsend family, I’m sorry I can’t articulate, I can’t put into words the pain I have caused y’all, the hurt, what I took away that I cannot give back," Gonzales said in his final statement.

In January 2001, Gonzales kidnapped, raped and shot Townsend, who was the girlfriend of his drug dealer.

The case went unsolved for 18 months until Gonzales confessed to the crime while in custody in a separate rape case. He also told authorities where to find Townsend's remains.

Gonzales' attorney had appealed for a stay on his execution to the US Supreme Court, but it was rejected on Wednesday.

Gonzales' execution is the second in Texas so far this year and the eighth in the United States, not counting a canceled execution in Idaho this past February due to a failure to administer the lethal dose by the legal deadline.

The United States carried out 24 executions in 2023, all by lethal injection.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states. Six other states -- Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee -- observe a moratorium on executions.