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Thread: Arnold Prieto - Texas Execution - January 21, 2015

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    Arnold Prieto - Texas Execution - January 21, 2015





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    Summary of Offense:

    Prieto was convicted of the September 11, 1993 robbery and murder of three people including his great uncle and aunt. Each of the elderly victims were stabbed to death after offering Prieto and two co-defendants breakfast at their home. The three assailants fled with money and jewelry stolen from the home.

    Victims: Rudolfo Rodriguez, 72, his wife, Virginia, 62, and Paula Moran, 90.

    Prieto was sentenced to death in Bexar County in June 1995.

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    Prieto was denied a Certificate of Appealability by the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on September 15, 2008.

    Opinion is here:

    http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions...0001.0.wpd.pdf

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    April 28, 2009

    HOUSTON – A Carrollton man condemned for an attack that left three people dead during the robbery of their home in San Antonio more than 15 years ago moved a step closer to execution with the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal Monday to review his case.

    Arnold Prieto, 35, is one of three men convicted in the fatal stabbings of Rudolfo Rodriguez, 72, his wife, Virginia, 62, and Paula Moran, 90, a family friend of the San Antonio couple.

    In another death row case, among four Texas cases turned down Monday by the high court, the justices refused to review the case of Yosvanis Valle, 33, a Cuban native and alleged gang member. He was condemned for the fatal shooting 10 years ago of a drug dealer in Pasadena, just outside Houston.

    Two other condemned Texas murderers – both convicted of fatally shooting Houston police officers – also lost appeals though their cases are earlier in the legal process following their convictions.

    They included Robert Jennings, 51, convicted of killing Elston Howard, an undercover Houston vice officer, in 1988; and Alfred Brown, 27, condemned for the slaying of Charles Clark, who was shot after responding to a robbery in progress at Houston check-cashing store.

    None of the four inmates has an execution date.

    In Prieto's case, two of the murder victims, the Rodriguez couple, were the great-uncle and great-aunt of his two companions, brothers Guadalupe and Jessie Hernandez, also of Carrollton. Jessie Hernandez, one day short of his 17th birthday on the day of the killings and ineligible for the death penalty, received a life prison term for his involvement in the 1993 robbery-slayings. Charges were dropped against Guadalupe Hernandez because prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence.

    Rodriguez and his wife operated a check-cashing business from their San Antonio home. The couple and Moran, who had been a nanny to their children and lived with them, were fatally stabbed with a knife, a screwdriver and possibly an ice pick. Rodriguez had 17 stab wounds. His wife had 31 wounds. Moran was stabbed eight times.

    Prieto told police in a confession he and his friends, high on cocaine, intended on robbing the business when they traveled from Carrollton to San Antonio.

    In Valle's case, a Harris County jury deliberated about six hours in 2001 before deciding he should be executed for the 1999 slaying of 28-year-old Jose Martin Junco.

    Prosecutors described Valle as a member of La Raza Unida – A Race United – a prison gang, and contended he assassinated other gang members to move up in the ranks. Records indicate at the time of the Junco slaying Valle had been released on mandatory supervision after receiving an eight-year sentence for possession a sawed-off shotgun.

    Known as "El Cubano," he also was linked by authorities to a slaying at a convenience store and to the killing of two other gang members.

    (Source: The Houston Chronicle)

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    As per the TDCJ website, an execution date of January 21, 2015 has been set for Arnold Prieto.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Media Advisory: Arnold Prieto scheduled for execution

    AUSTIN – Pursuant to a court order by the 175th District Court of Bexar County, Arnold Prieto is scheduled for execution after 6:00 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2015.

    In 1995, a Bexar County jury found Prieto guilty of murdering Rodolfo Rodriguez, Virginia Rodriguez, and Paula Moran in the same criminal transaction. Below is a summary of the evidence presented at trial.

    FACTS OF THE CASE

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals summarized the evidence of guilt in its opinion on direct appeal:

    The Hernandez brothers, Lupe and Jesse, were friends of [Prieto]’s who supplied [him] with free cocaine. The Hernandez brothers, particularly Lupe, would often mention a rich uncle in San Antonio, Rodolfo Rodriguez, who was married to the brothers’ aunt, Virginia Rodriguez. They told [Prieto] their uncle was a loan shark who kept a closet full of money.

    [Prieto] and Lupe began taking cocaine early on the day of the offense which occurred in September 1993. Lupe repeatedly asserted that he wanted to go to San Antonio to get his uncle’s money. [Prieto]’s confession claimed Lupe “pressured” [him] into going to San Antonio to get his uncle’s money. The Hernandez brothers and [Prieto] set off from Carrollton in [Prieto]’s car for the victims’ home in San Antonio. They took cocaine throughout the trip.

    [Prieto]’s confession related that [he] was too scared and preoccupied with trying to think of a way to get back to Carrollton to remember the details of what was discussed on the road to San Antonio. [Prieto] did remember Lupe telling him and Jesse to take off their socks and put them on their hands when they kill[ed] the victims so as not to leave any fingerprints. [Prieto] further remembered Jesse testing this theory against the car windows. [Prieto]’s confession claimed the planned crime was not his idea.

    The three men arrived at the victims’ home at a very dark hour early in the morning. [Prieto] claimed in his confession that he thought of staying in the car, but Lupe told him to “get the […] out of the car!” Lupe knocked on the door of the house, and Virginia came to the door asking who it was. Lupe answered, “Soy yo tia.”

    Virginia opened the door and let the three men in. She was, as [Prieto] recalls, “very nice.” She prepared breakfast for them. She poured orange juice for [Prieto], and he ate the breakfast she had prepared. [Prieto] claimed in his confession that he thought nothing was going to happen. He put his dirty dishes in the sink. Then, Jesse called [Prieto] into a bedroom adjoining the kitchen. Rodolfo was sitting on the bed. [Prieto] sat next to him.

    Suddenly, Virginia screamed from the kitchen. [Prieto] looked toward the kitchen and saw Lupe stabbing his aunt with what looked like a long screwdriver. Rodolfo attempted to help her, but [Prieto] pushed him back down on the bed and held him down as Jesse handed [Prieto] a screwdriver. [Prieto] grabbed the screwdriver and stabbed Rodolfo “a lot of times.” He remembered stabbing Rodolfo once through the back of the head.

    [Prieto] claimed in his confession that he was frozen with shock at what he had done but was roused by Lupe yelling at him to “move.” [Prieto] claimed in his confession that he felt faint when he saw Virginia’s body on the kitchen floor, and then he heard a loud pop in the living room. Then he saw Paula Moran, aged ninety-two, on the living room floor, her head “sort of propped up” against the wall.

    [Prieto] stood in the doorway while Jesse pried open a closet door. He watched while Jesse ransacked the contents of the closet and emptied several large envelopes. [Prieto] yelled “let’s go” and ran past Paula Moran. He noticed she was moving. Jesse stopped over Paula and stabbed her repeatedly. Lupe took a purse from the bedroom where [Prieto] had stabbed Rodolfo.

    Lupe then drove [Prieto]’s car. [Prieto] sat in the passenger seat and claimed he began to throw up and shake. He resumed his ingestion of cocaine which continued throughout their return trip to Carrollton.

    Back at [Prieto]’s apartment in Carrollton, Lupe and Jesse split up the stolen goods and gave [Prieto] “a man’s gold nugget ring with a coin mounted on top.” According to [Prieto], “[w]e split some cash Lupe had found in the purse. We each got about one hundred dollars. I also picked out a gold chain, small like for a child with a crucifix pendant .... A couple of days after ... I asked [sic] Lupe that I needed some money .... He gave me a couple of earrings and a couple of necklaces which I pawned at “U.S.A. Pawn” .... I got one-hundred-forty dollars for all the jewelry.”

    [Prieto] later told his wife, “I killed somebody so did Lupe and Jesse.”

    PROCEDURAL HISTORY

    On Jan. 26, 1995, a Bexar County grand jury indicted Prieto for murdering Rodolfo Rodriguez, Virginia Rodriguez, and Paula Moran in the same criminal transaction, or for murdering Rodolfo Rodriguez while in the course of committing the felony offense of robbery.

    On March 27, 1995, a Bexar County jury convicted Prieto of capital murder. After a separate punishment proceeding, the same jury sentenced Prieto to death on March 30, 1995.

    On Dec. 16, 1998, Prieto’s conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on direct appeal. Prieto did not appeal the state court’s decision to the United States Supreme Court.

    On Oct. 8, 1999, Prieto filed an application for state habeas corpus relief, which was denied by the Court of Criminal Appeals on Nov. 28, 2001.

    On Aug. 2, 2002, Prieto filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division. The federal court denied Prieto’s petition as time-barred on July 7, 2005.

    On Dec. 5, 2005, Prieto appealed the district court’s decision to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and also requested a certificate of appealability (COA) for permission to appeal on other grounds.

    On July 14, 2006, the Fifth Circuit denied Prieto’s request for additional COA in an unpublished opinion. However, on July 18, 2006, the Court reversed the district court’s decision to dismiss Prieto’s federal habeas petition as untimely, and also reversed the district court’s decision to sua sponte dismiss a jury-misconduct allegation as procedurally barred. The Court remanded to the district court with instructions to address the procedural bar issue after giving both parties the opportunity to argue their respective positions.

    On Dec. 18, 2006, after receiving briefing from both parties, the district court issued a supplemental opinion again finding that Prieto procedurally defaulted on his jury-misconduct claim, and alternatively finding that the claim does not warrant federal habeas relief on the merits.

    On Sept. 15, 2008, the Fifth Circuit rejected Prieto’s appeal and affirmed the district court’s denial of habeas corpus relief.

    Prieto filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on Jan. 21, 2009. The high court denied review on April 27, 2009.

    On May 7, 2014, the 175th state district court issued an order setting Prieto’s execution date for Jan. 21, 2015.

    PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

    Under Texas law, the rules of evidence prevent certain prior criminal acts from being presented to a jury during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial. However, once a defendant is found guilty, jurors are presented information about the defendant’s prior criminal conduct during the second phase of the trial – which is when they determine the defendant’s punishment.

    During the penalty phase of Prieto’s trial, jurors learned that Prieto was federally indicted in January 1994 for engaging in organized criminal activity and stealing 163 laptop computers – worth approximately $676,000 – from his Dallas-area employer. Prieto was associated with an organized-crime ring involved in the theft and resale of various products: tires, chemicals, furniture, and computers. The jury also heard evidence that, while incarcerated awaiting trial, Prieto was disciplined for multiple instances of disobeying orders, violating security rules, possession of contraband, yelling, and changing television channels without permission. Finally, jurors learned that Prieto was arrested and confessed to the 1990 burglaries of a Lincoln, two trucks, and two vans.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Oh, there is something new I did not know of.
    We hope it will go through.

    Greetings, bernhard

    (PS: Currently I am on youtube. When the execution starts, you can click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ2JuSEo7Yg ).

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    Inmate to be executed Wednesday for 1993 triple murder in San Antonio

    Arnold Prieto, 41, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for his role in a 1993 triple slaying in San Antonio.

    Prieto is the only one of the three men originally arrested and charged with the murders of Virginia Rodriguez, 62, Rodolfo Rodriguez, 72, and Paula Moran, 90, to have received the death penalty.

    A frequent contributor to death row website Minutes Before Six, Prieto described in detail his reaction in May to learning that his execution date had been set.

    “As I read the order I heard clear as a bell the ticking hand very loudly…click…and it started to tick,” he wrote. “The cosmic clock on the waist on Azrael has started for me. I’ll be quite honest with you; while I read my legal papers and how my life had an expiration date, my heart sank to the pit of my stomach.”

    Prieto, who declined to be interviewed by the San Antonio Express-News, has also submitted numerous sketches to the website.

    Brothers Jesse and Guadalupe Hernandez, who were the great nephews of the Rodriguezes, were arrested alongside Prieto six months after the killings. Jesse Hernandez, who was one day shy of his 17th birthday when the murders were committed, wasn’t eligible for the death penalty and is serving a life sentence. Guadalupe Hernandez, originally labeled by authorities the mastermind of the robbery-turned-murder, eventually had all charges against him dropped.

    In a statement Prieto gave to police after his arrest, he said it was the idea of Guadalupe Hernandez to drive from the Dallas suburb of Carrollton where the trio lived to San Antonio to rob the uncle.

    Prieto told police they got to the home in the 1100 block of West Mistletoe Avenue in the middle of the night and that Virginia Rodriguez made them a breakfast of eggs, tortillas and juice. After eating, according to Prieto, Guadalupe Hernandez repeatedly stabbed his aunt with a screwdriver. Prieto did the same to Rodolfo Rodriguez, and Jesse Hernandez stabbed Paula Moran when she came out of her bedroom, Prieto said.

    Jesse Hernandez told police it was Prieto who committed all the killings.

    In his Minutes to Six blogs, Prieto has not mentioned the crime that led to his scheduled execution. The blog instead has described jail conditions, quoted an Iron Maiden song about an execution and touted the high school diploma he received in 2013.

    “As you can see, the cards are stacked up against me,” he wrote. “Nothing new really, since they have been stacked from the very beginning. … Where is the dangerous killer and monster (jurors) foresaw??? … Maybe the crystal ball was cloudy during those days or maybe they did not shake the ball hard enough.”

    For more on Prieto’s crime click here or read the Sunday print edition of the San Antonio Express-News.

    http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...le-6025422.php
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Man convicted of killing 3 in San Antonio set to be executed

    HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The killings of a San Antonio couple and a 90-year-old family friend, each stabbed or cut up to 31 times, went unsolved for about seven months before an informant's tip sent detectives to a relative 300 miles away.

    A grandnephew of the slain couple implicated himself, his brother and a friend, Arnold Prieto, in the attack with an icepick, screwdriver or knife that killed Rudolfo Rodriguez, 72, his wife, Virginia, 62, and Paula Moran, 90, whom they cared for at their home.

    Prieto, 41, was set to be executed Wednesday for the slayings more than 21 years ago. No appeals to halt the punishment were in the courts Tuesday.

    The lethal injection will be the first this year in Texas. Two more are scheduled for next week.

    Prieto was arrested with brothers Guadalupe and Jesse Hernandez, who were the grandnephews of the Rodriguezes. Moran had been nanny to that couple's children.

    Authorities said Prieto told them he and the brothers drove to San Antonio early on Sept. 12, 1993, to rob the couple they believed had about $10,000 used for a checking-cashing business they operated out of their home. Court documents show Prieto had financial problems and the Hernandez brothers talked often about their rich uncle in San Antonio.

    Prieto told police the three had been using cocaine and continued to do so during their drive to San Antonio. Virginia Rodriguez fed them breakfast after they arrived. Then she, her husband and Moran were attacked. The assailants fled with some jewelry and a purse containing about $300.

    Back in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, they split the money and pawned some of the jewelry.

    A woman arriving at the Rodriguez's home found the bodies.

    Police later recovered a ring from a friend of Prieto who told authorities Prieto said he and the Hernandez brothers were responsible for the killings.

    "He had a number of voluntary statements that were admitted into evidence in which he admitted to the crime," Michael Bernard, Prieto's lead trial lawyer, recalled last week. "He was in physical possession of some of the property afterward."

    A Bexar County jury convicted Prieto of capital murder and deliberated 13 hours before deciding he should die.

    Bernard said prosecutors offered Prieto a plea deal that included a sentence less than life in prison if he would testify against one of his companions.

    "We weren't able to persuade him to do it," Bernard said.

    Jesse Hernandez, now 38, was the fiance of Prieto's sister and father of her child. The slayings occurred a day before his 17th birthday, making him too young for the death penalty. He's serving a life sentence for capital murder. Charges against his brother, Guadalupe, were dropped because of insufficient evidence.

    Prieto previously was jailed for more than a year and given probation for vehicle burglaries. He also was indicted in January 1994 on federal charges of engaging in organized criminal activity for the theft of 163 laptops worth $676,000 from a Dallas warehouse where he'd worked.

    http://www.expressnews.com/news/texa...-3-6027287.php

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Addict TrudieG's Avatar
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    Nothing in the court today however get set for a late appeal tomorrow.

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    I doubt that!!! Prieto is going to be strapped to the gurney as we speak in Huntsville!!

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