HUNTSVILLE, Texas – {Authorities in Texas have executed a 41-year-old prisoner, 21 years after he was found guilty of the screwdriver slaying of three elderly San Antonio residents.
\n}<\/p>\n
Arnold Prieto was pronounced dead Wednesday 6:31 p.m., 20 minutes after the lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered. But all visible breathing had ceased by 6:15 p.m.<\/p>\n
He became the first prisoner to receive a lethal injection this year in Texas, which carried out 10 executions in 2014.<\/p>\n
Prieto was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death for the killings of Rodolfo Rodriguez, 72, his wife, Virginia, 62, and Paula Moran, their 90-year-old former nanny who lived with them.<\/p>\n
Each victim was stabbed or cut multiple times with what was commonly believed to be a screwdriver. The attackers took jewelry and about $300.<\/p>\n
Prieto made an emotional last minute speech when he was asked if he had a final statement.<\/p>\n
“There are no endings, only beginnings,” he said. “Love y’all, see you soon.”<\/p>\n
Seconds later he said, “I can smell it, whoa.” He took a series of quick breaths and then everything stopped, according to prison officials.<\/p>\n
Also present were Prieto’s sister and two friends. They were led out of the viewing chamber after he was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n
In a separate viewing room, four sons and a daughter-in-law of victims Virginia and Rodolfo Rodriguez also looked on in silence. `<\/p>\n
Prieto had spurned a plea deal for a sentence of less than life in prison after he refused to testify against one of other men with him during the robbery.<\/p>\n
“There was a way out,” one of Prieto’s trial lawyers, Michael Bernard, recalled last week. “We just couldn’t get there.”<\/p>\n
No late appeals were filed in the courts Wednesday to try to halt his punishment.<\/p>\n
Prieto and two brothers related to the Rodriguezes were arrested in Carrollton, a north Dallas suburb, seven months after the September 1993 killings. Prieto was the only one of three to get the death penalty.<\/p>\n
Authorities said Prieto told them he and brothers Jesse and Guadalupe Hernandez believed the Rodriguezes had about $10,000 cash used for a checking-cashing business they operated out of their home.<\/p>\n
He told police the three had been using cocaine during their 300-mile drive from Carrollton to San Antonio. Virginia Rodriguez fed them breakfast after they arrived. Then she, her husband and Moran were attacked.<\/p>\n
{{Agencies}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – {Authorities in Texas have executed a 41-year-old prisoner, 21 years after he was found guilty of the screwdriver slaying of three elderly San Antonio residents. } Arnold Prieto was pronounced dead Wednesday 6:31 p.m., 20 minutes after the lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered. But all visible breathing had ceased by 6:15 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000055965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-18369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000055965,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton18369.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton18369.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton18369.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton18369.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton18369.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton18369.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000055965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18369"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=18369"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=18369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}