Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 41

Thread: Richard Vasquez, Jr. - Texas Death Row

  1. #1
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534

    Richard Vasquez, Jr. - Texas Death Row




    Richard Vasquez (2012)


    Facts of the Crime:

    On March 5, 1998, during the daytime, in Corpus Christi, Vasquez struck four-year-old Miranda Lopez multiple times in the frontal part of her head with a closed fist. Vasquez then sent the child outside to play, Vasquez took a nap. Later, Vasquez called the child in from outside to brush her teeth. She got a small stool so she could reach the sink area and got on top of it then fell backwards onto her back. Vasquez went into the bathroom and saw the girl lying on her back and she was rushed to the hospital, where she died one day later.

    Vasquez was sentenced to death in Nueces County in June 1999.

  2. #2
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a Certificate of Appealability to Vazquez on August 11, 2010 including two decisions sua sponte from the District Court on ineffective assistance of counsel.


    Opinion is here:

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...0034.0.wpd.pdf

  3. #3
    Guest
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    5,534
    August 12, 2010

    HOUSTON — A federal appeals court has upheld the death sentence of a Corpus Christi man condemned for the 1998 fatal beating of his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter.

    In its ruling, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was critical of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for deciding earlier that attorneys at the 1999 trial of Richard Vasquez did an acceptable job during the trial's punishment phase.

    "It was objectively unreasonable for the state court to conclude that Vasquez's trial counsel's performance was constitutionally sound," the New Orleans-based court said in a decision posted late Wednesday.

    The federal judges, however, said Vasquez wasn't prejudiced by his attorney's "deficient performance," that his appeals lawyers didn't prove the lower court's prejudice determination was unreasonable and affirmed a Nueces County jury's decision that Vasquez should die.

    Vasquez's appeals lawyers argued that his trial attorneys did little investigation to show jurors mitigating evidence that could have led them to decide he should get life in prison rather than death.

    The attorneys said Vasquez's trial lawyers never spoke with his parents, didn't hire a mitigation specialist but instead hired an investigator with no experience in collecting mitigating evidence in capital murder cases.

    According to the court opinion, "had Vasquez's trial attorneys undertaken even a rudimentary investigation of Vasquez's family and social history, they would have unearthed a frightening portrait of addiction and destruction."

    Among the evidence not presented to jurors was that Vasquez's drug-addicted father taught his son how to use and sell heroin, took him along on drug runs and robberies, and that he began using marijuana at age 10 and was addicted to cocaine and heroin by age 13. His mother lived with a drug dealer who also provided him with drugs.

    Vasquez was 18 when authorities said he fatally beat 4-year-old Miranda Lopez in the head because his girlfriend — the child's mother and also a drug addict — wouldn't tell him where she had hidden some cocaine. Evidence also showed the child had been severely sexually assaulted before she died and that cocaine levels in the child's blood were double the lethal amount for an adult.

    Vasquez called 911 to report the girl unconscious and told paramedics she fell from a stool while brushing her teeth and hit her head on the floor. He became a suspect after the nature of her injuries became more clear.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7150713.html

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Vasquez's petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis was DENIED.

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217
    3 Texas death row inmates lost at Supreme Court

    The U.S. Supreme Court has refused appeals from three condemned Texas inmates, two of them convicted of killing children.

    The high court Monday rejected appeals from 46-year-old Guadalupe Esparza, condemned for abducting a 7-year-old girl in San Antonio, sexually assaulting and strangling her in 1999. Also turned down was 32-year-old Richard Vasquez, convicted of fatally beating his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter in 1998 in Corpus Christi.

    The third inmate to lose at the court Monday is 31-year-old Steven Woods, convicted of robbing and killing a man and woman in Denton County, near Dallas, in 2001.

    None of the three has an execution date yet.

    http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/...e-1478140.html

  6. #6
    Junior Member Newbie
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    france
    Posts
    27
    New execution date: January 15, 2015

  7. #7
    Senior Member Member FLMetfan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Ponte Vedra Florida
    Posts
    175
    Facts of the Crime:

    On March 5, 1998, during the daytime, in Corpus Christi, Vasquez struck four-year-old Miranda Lopez multiple times in the frontal part of her head with a closed fist. Vasquez then sent the child outside to play, Vasquez took a nap. Later, Vasquez called the child in from outside to brush her teeth. She got a small stool so she could reach the sink area and got on top of it then fell backwards onto her back. Vasquez went into the bathroom and saw the girl lying on her back and she was rushed to the hospital, where she died one day later.
    A 4 year old little girl. Adrian Peterson should read this. How can a parent brutalize a child so young? They look to you as a hero and their everything. These animals treat other people like objects. I bet this animal polished his car every weekend. Damn.
    Last edited by Helen; 09-18-2014 at 01:04 PM. Reason: deleted blasphemy
    "I am the warden! Get your warden off this gurney and shut up! You are not in America. This is the island of Barbados. People will see you doing this." Monty Delk's last words.

  8. #8
    Member Member Dirtnapper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Starke, FL
    Posts
    68
    Good god! If they need a volunteer to push the plunger...I'd do it! Poor little girl....that just infuriates me!!!!

  9. #9
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Capital Region NY
    Posts
    865
    I truly think this is tragic and I certainly think killing a child is one of THE WORST thing a criminal can do, but I don't honestly think this guy and this case is the worst of the worst. I haven't said this yet on this site and it's a shame I feel this way on a case that involves the death of a child, but I would be OK with LWOP on this one. Just my thoughts....

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Addict Stro07's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Austria
    Posts
    843
    The worst details have been left out of the short summary. Miranda had also been sexually assaulted and had twice the lethal dose of cocaine in her body. He definitely deserves what's coming.

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...0034.0.wpd.pdf

Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •