A 41-year-old man was executed in the southern US state of Texas today for the murder of a young mother in 2004, bringing the number of executions in the country since the beginning of the year to 13, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
After the US Supreme Court rejected the final appeal, Moises Sandoval Mendoza was executed by lethal injection at the “Huntsville“ prison, the Texas Department of Corrections announced.
The man, who is of Latin American origin, was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Rachel O'Neil Tolleson in 2004, when they were both 20 years old. He then dumped the body in a ditch, set it on fire and buried it in bushes, court records show. The body was discovered several days later.
According to local press reports, the victim, a mother of a five-month-old baby, had known her killer since high school. The convict's lawyer is trying unsuccessfully to have the death sentence commuted to life in prison, saying his client will lead a quiet life behind bars.
A fight between him and another inmate, however, undermined the defense's case, and the Texas Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal. The defense also appealed to the Supreme Court based on testimony from the other inmate, who claimed he attacked Moises Sandoval Mendoza, but the appeal was dismissed.