HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) – A Mexican Mafia hit man convicted of beating and strangling a San Antonio woman because she didn’t pay the gang’s 10 percent tax on her illegal drug sales was executed Wednesday evening.
The injection of Manuel Vasquez with a lethal dose of pentobarbital leaves Texas with enough of the powerful sedative to carry out only one more execution. Vasquez was the fourth Texas inmate put to death this year, and at least six are scheduled for execution in the coming weeks.
Texas prison officials, like those in other death penalty states, have found it increasingly difficult to find suppliers to provide drugs intended for capital punishment use.
Vasquez, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m. CDT, 17 minutes after the drug began being administered.
Vasquez, in a final statement, told his family and friends he loved them and thanked “the Lord for his kind mercy, faithfulness and unconditional love.”