[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., TENN., CALIF., ORE.
August 25 TEXAS: Texas Trooper passes away from surgery complications following April shooting Our sister station, KVEO has learned that Texas DPS Trooper Moises Sanchez has passed away. Trooper Sanchez was re-admitted to surgery then went into critical condition earlier in the week. Back in April, Trooper Sanchez was shot in the head while responding to a routine traffic stop. State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa gives this statement: “Saddened to learn of the passing of DPS Trooper Moises Sanchez who was shot twice back in April while responding to a routine traffic accident call in the Edinburg/McAllen area. This is a reminder that our law enforcement men and women risk their lives on a daily basis. There is no routine traffic stop or routine response to a call for help. Today our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Trooper Sanchez who has made the ultimate sacrifice for our families. I also appreciate the healthcare teams that cared for Trooper Sanchez while he fought bravely and courageously these past four months. May he Rest in Peace and be in Heaven. Semper Fi! To a Marine.” DPS Trooper Moises Sanchez was re-admitted to the hospital following his final surgery on August 22. The alleged shooter, Victor Alejandro Godinez, pre-trial hearings were pushed back. Currently, Victor Alejandro Godinez is being charged with attempted capital murder. Local 23 has reached out to Hidalgo County Distract Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez on if the charges will be upgraded to capital murder, and if the state will seek the death penalty. (source: KVEO news) Border Patrol Agent Accused of 12-Day Killing Spree: 'He Decided ... These People Did Not Deserve to Live' What he wanted, he allegedly told Texas investigators in a chilling confession, was to clean the streets of Laredo. That's why, he said, he went on a 12-day rampage, killing 4 women and leaving them on the side of rural roads. Juan David Ortiz, a 35-year-old Navy veteran and former intelligence supervisor for the U.S. Border Patrol, is suspected of being a serial killer who preyed upon local women, killing 4 and kidnapping another, after picking them up along a Laredo street last year. He shot his victims with his service weapon, prosecutor Isidro Alaniz told InsideEdition.com, and left their bodies in plain sight. The women were sex workers, many of whom struggled for years with drug addiction, their families said, and whose workplace was San Bernardo Avenue, a tightly packed thoroughfare of cheap motels, auto body shops, taco stands and convenience stores. All of the women knew each other; some were good friends. But Ortiz, a married father of 2 young children, said he wanted to rid Laredo of the women's presence, according to Alaniz. "He decided in his own mind that these people did not deserve to live," the prosecutor said. "It was not up to Juan David Ortiz to decide to end their lives. Nobody has that right. Nobody has the right to unilaterally decide that another person shouldn't live, and then execute them as if they're just an inanimate object." All but one of the victims had children. All had families in Laredo who are still grappling with the women's brutal ends. "These were mothers, they were daughters, they were sisters," said Colette Miereles, whose sister, 42-year-old Claudine Luera, was victim No. 2. "They didn't deserve this." Angelica Perez, another sister of Luera's, remembers the anguish of bringing together her nieces and nephews. "We had to tell them, 'Your mother's gone.' It's one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, because we had to listen to their screams. "He left her on the side of the road like she was trash." The sole survivor managed to jump out of Ortiz's truck after he pointed his service weapon at her, investigators said. He grabbed her shirt, but she slipped out of it and ran, wearing only a bra from the waist up. Erika Pena, 26, fled to a gas station, where she saw a Texas trooper filling up his cruiser. She begged for help, according to Webb County sheriff's deputies. In the next few hours, as deputies searched for Ortiz, he killed 2 more women, authorities said. The murders terrified the border town, which is one of the fastest-growing cities in Texas and home to the largest internal port on the U.S.-Mexico border. International trade fuels the local economy, and the metropolitan area's population of about 260,000 is more than 95% Hispanic and Latino. "When this case broke open, the community's tight-knit, so it was very scary for people," Alaniz said. "Lardeo's not used to dealing with a serial killer. ... This is such a friendly town. People are so respectful." It is particularly galling, Alaniz said, that Ortiz was "entrusted with protection and defending the Constitution." The killings also took place as President Trump ramped up his anti-immigration rhetoric and increased the
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
August 25 GREECE: August 25, 1972: The Last Execution in Greece Before Abolition of Death Penalty On this day in 1972, 27-year-old Cretan electrician Vassilis Lymberis was executed by a firing squad for murdering his mother-in-law, his wife, and his 2 children by burning down the family house in January of that year. It was August 25, 1972, with Greece still under military rule, when the last execution in the country took place before the abolition of the death penalty. Lymberis, who had three accomplices in his crime, claimed he didn’t know that his children were in the house at the time he set fire to it. He said he only wanted to hurt his mother-in-law because she was driving him insane with her behavior. Lymberis’ heinous crime Vassilis Lymberis and Vassiliki Markou were married in December 1967 and set up their home together in Metamorphosi, a northern suburb of Athens. He was 22 years of age and she was only 19. After a time, the couple began to have arguments and were known to not be getting along. Lymberis claimed he asked his wife for a divorce before they had children, but that she had refused because she loved him too much. The couple had their first child, Panagiota, in June of 1969, but that was not enough to bring the two closer. The fighting, which took place mostly between Lymberis and his mother in law, escalated when Vassiliki was pregnant with their 2nd child. 2 years after Panagiota, little Giorgos was born into the world, but the relationship between the couple was at its lowest ebb at that time. Lymberis left his home and rented an apartment in the center of Athens. Relatives and friends of the family accused him of living a life of depravity, drinking and womanizing and squandering away the family’s money. During Christmas of 1971, Lymberis met three young men, 20-year-old Athanasios Stamatis, 25-year-old Theodoros Kapretsos and 17-year-old Pavlos Angelopoulos, who lived in the same apartment building as himself. One night, when Lymberis was drunk, he told his new friends of his plan to kill his mother-in-law and asked for their help, promising that they would not get caught for the crime. He promised money and a new car to Angelopoulos, the youngster in the group. One night Lymberis and Angelopoulos bought gasoline and went to the house in Metamorphosi but they discovered that the children were in the house and that there was not enough gasoline to set fire to the entire building, so they left. But on the night of January 5, 1972, Lymberis, Angelopoulos and Kapretsos bought three large containers of gasoline and went to the family home. Kapretsos would act as the lookout while Lymberis and Angelopoulos went into the house to set fire to it. Angelopoulos and Lymberis had one can of gasoline each, leaving the third at the door. The 18-year-old went into the room where Lymberis’ mother-in-law and the infant boy were sleeping. Lymberis then entered the bedroom where his wife and daughter were sleeping. Angelopoulos poured the gasoline into the room first, and Lymberis followed suit in his wife Vassiliki’s bedroom. They lit matches and set the place ablaze, amidst the screams of the two women and the children. Vassiliki jumped out of bed and attempted to call the police and the fire service. Lymberis then grabbed her by the hair and threw her into the flames, then stomped on her chest so she wouldn’t get up while he screamed “Now you’re gonna pay!” Upon hearing the screams of the women and children, Angelopoulos suddenly experienced pangs of conscience, and he then took the third gasoline container and tried to pour the contents on Lymberis, who hid behind a door and avoided getting burned. Then he locked the burning house and fled. Angelopoulos later claimed he helped commit the crime because Lymberis had lied to them about the children being at home. Lymberis, Angelopoulos and Kapretsos then returned to Vathi Square where they lived. Lymberis, who had several burns on his face and body, threatened the others to keep their mouths shut about the deadly arson attack. Stamatis, who had played had no part in the actual crime, was asked to burn the clothes used by Lymberis and Angelopoulos so they could not be used as evidence in case they were arrested. Arrest and trial Vassiliki Markou’s brother in law, Antonis Stroggyloudis, just happened to pass by the house after the attack and saw smoke pouring out the windows. He rushed in and found his mother-in-law and the two children already dead, but Markou, despite suffering severe burns, was still alive. Stroggyloudis called the fire service and police. Markou was taken to the hospital, where she died that same day. But before she passed, she was able to tell a relative that the man who set the house on fire was her husband. Socrates Kapsaskis, the chief of Greece’s forensic department at the time, declared after performing the autopsies
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide
August 25 GREECE: August 25, 1972: The Last Execution in Greece Before Abolition of Death Penalty On this day in 1972, 27-year-old Cretan electrician Vassilis Lymberis was executed by a firing squad for murdering his mother-in-law, his wife, and his 2 children by burning down the family house in January of that year. It was August 25, 1972, with Greece still under military rule, when the last execution in the country took place before the abolition of the death penalty. Lymberis, who had three accomplices in his crime, claimed he didn’t know that his children were in the house at the time he set fire to it. He said he only wanted to hurt his mother-in-law because she was driving him insane with her behavior. Lymberis’ heinous crime Vassilis Lymberis and Vassiliki Markou were married in December 1967 and set up their home together in Metamorphosi, a northern suburb of Athens. He was 22 years of age and she was only 19. After a time, the couple began to have arguments and were known to not be getting along. Lymberis claimed he asked his wife for a divorce before they had children, but that she had refused because she loved him too much. The couple had their first child, Panagiota, in June of 1969, but that was not enough to bring the two closer. The fighting, which took place mostly between Lymberis and his mother in law, escalated when Vassiliki was pregnant with their 2nd child. 2 years after Panagiota, little Giorgos was born into the world, but the relationship between the couple was at its lowest ebb at that time. Lymberis left his home and rented an apartment in the center of Athens. Relatives and friends of the family accused him of living a life of depravity, drinking and womanizing and squandering away the family’s money. During Christmas of 1971, Lymberis met three young men, 20-year-old Athanasios Stamatis, 25-year-old Theodoros Kapretsos and 17-year-old Pavlos Angelopoulos, who lived in the same apartment building as himself. One night, when Lymberis was drunk, he told his new friends of his plan to kill his mother-in-law and asked for their help, promising that they would not get caught for the crime. He promised money and a new car to Angelopoulos, the youngster in the group. One night Lymberis and Angelopoulos bought gasoline and went to the house in Metamorphosi but they discovered that the children were in the house and that there was not enough gasoline to set fire to the entire building, so they left. But on the night of January 5, 1972, Lymberis, Angelopoulos and Kapretsos bought three large containers of gasoline and went to the family home. Kapretsos would act as the lookout while Lymberis and Angelopoulos went into the house to set fire to it. Angelopoulos and Lymberis had one can of gasoline each, leaving the third at the door. The 18-year-old went into the room where Lymberis’ mother-in-law and the infant boy were sleeping. Lymberis then entered the bedroom where his wife and daughter were sleeping. Angelopoulos poured the gasoline into the room first, and Lymberis followed suit in his wife Vassiliki’s bedroom. They lit matches and set the place ablaze, amidst the screams of the two women and the children. Vassiliki jumped out of bed and attempted to call the police and the fire service. Lymberis then grabbed her by the hair and threw her into the flames, then stomped on her chest so she wouldn’t get up while he screamed “Now you’re gonna pay!” Upon hearing the screams of the women and children, Angelopoulos suddenly experienced pangs of conscience, and he then took the third gasoline container and tried to pour the contents on Lymberis, who hid behind a door and avoided getting burned. Then he locked the burning house and fled. Angelopoulos later claimed he helped commit the crime because Lymberis had lied to them about the children being at home. Lymberis, Angelopoulos and Kapretsos then returned to Vathi Square where they lived. Lymberis, who had several burns on his face and body, threatened the others to keep their mouths shut about the deadly arson attack. Stamatis, who had played had no part in the actual crime, was asked to burn the clothes used by Lymberis and Angelopoulos so they could not be used as evidence in case they were arrested. Arrest and trial Vassiliki Markou’s brother in law, Antonis Stroggyloudis, just happened to pass by the house after the attack and saw smoke pouring out the windows. He rushed in and found his mother-in-law and the two children already dead, but Markou, despite suffering severe burns, was still alive. Stroggyloudis called the fire service and police. Markou was taken to the hospital, where she died that same day. But before she passed, she was able to tell a relative that the man who set the house on fire was her husband. Socrates Kapsaskis, the chief of Greece’s forensic department at the time, declared after performing the autopsies
