Belfast Telegraph

Sunday 28 December 2014

Man executed for killing family

The death chamber in Huntsville prison, Texas (AP)
The death chamber in Huntsville prison, Texas (AP)

A man convicted of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, her young son and her mother 13 years ago has been executed by Texas prison officials.

The lethal injection of Jose Villegas, 39, was carried out after his lawyers unsuccessfully argued to the US Supreme Court that he was mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty.

Villegas was pronounced dead 11 minutes after being given a lethal dose of pentobarbital. He became the seventh prisoner executed this year in America's most active death penalty state.



The Supreme Court has prohibited execution of mentally impaired people, although states have been allowed to devise procedures to make their own determinations. Courts have also embraced scientific studies that consider a 70 IQ a threshold for impairment, and the high court justices are reviewing a Florida law stipulating that number for death penalty eligibility.


Villegas was convicted of stabbing Erida Salazar, 23, her three -year-old son Jacob, and Ms Salazar's mother, Alma Perez, 51, in Corpus Christi in January 2001. Their bodies were discovered by Ms Salazar's father when he returned home after being excused from jury duty. Each had been stabbed at least 19 times.

Villegas, a former cook, dishwasher and labourer, was free on bond for a sexual assault charge and was supposed to go on trial on the day of the killings for an incident in which a woman said he punched her in the face.



Villegas also had convictions for making terrorist threats to kill women, burglary and possessing inhalants.

Lawyers argued the killings were not intentional and Villegas was mentally ill. A defence psychiatrist said Villegas experienced "intermittent explosive disorder", a condition that led to uncontrollable rages.


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