Supreme Court Denies Appeal Ahead Of Execution
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HUNTSVILLE (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court denied the last-chance appeal of a former gang member scheduled for execution Tuesday evening after his defense attorneys argued that the man, who was convicted of killing three rivals 14 years ago in San Antonio, is mentally impaired.
The court denied a stay for Miguel Paredes in a brief order released Tuesday. Paredes, 32, was convicted along with two other men in the September 2000 shooting deaths of three people with ties to the Mexican Mafia. The victims' bodies were rolled up in a carpet, driven about 50 miles southwest, dumped and set on fire. A farmer investigating a grass fire found the remains.
Prosecutors alleged that Paredes, who turned 18 six weeks before the slayings, was the most aggressive shooter when the three victims showed up at a home to collect drug money.
Paredes' execution would be the 10th this year in Texas, the nation's most active death-penalty state. With no other lethal injections scheduled this year, the annual total would be the lowest since three were carried out in 1996. But at least nine are scheduled for early 2015, including four in January.
Paredes' attorney, David Dow, said the execution should be stopped because Paredes had "a significant mental disease" that may have affected his judgment when he told his previous lawyer 10 years ago not to investigate his family background. Dow also told the Supreme Court that Paredes' previous lawyer was deficient for not investigating the inmate's medical history.
In a response filed Tuesday morning, state lawyers said Paredes "presented no evidence that he is or ever has been mentally ill or incompetent," and that his earlier attorney couldn't be considered deficient when he "abided by Paredes' explicit instructions." Lower courts have sided with the state, which also noted that the latest appeal was filed after a deadline.
Dow and the Texas Attorney General's Office didn't immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday.
Prosecutors told jurors that Paredes was suspected in several other crimes, including other killings and drive-by shootings. Defense attorneys argued that he grew up in a gang-infested neighborhood, and the only way to survive was to join a gang.
Paredes was convicted of fatally shooting Nelly Bravo and Shawn Michael Cain, both 23, and Adrian Torres, 27. Prosecutors said the three were shot when they tried to collect drug money at the home of John Anthony Saenz, a leader in Paredes' gang.
"Evidence showed Miguel seemed to be the most aggressive and an active shooter," said Mary Green, the Bexar County district attorney who prosecuted Paredes.
Police got a break in the case when paperwork carrying Saenz's name was found in the debris with the three burning bodies.
Saenz, 32, claimed self-defense at his trial and avoided the death penalty when jurors sentenced him to life. The third suspect, Greg Alvarado, 35, pleaded guilty and also is serving life in prison.
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